Holiday Gift Idea: Vintage Cookbooks

Instead of giving the newest (and most expensive) cookbooks to the culinary folks on your gift lists this year, why not follow former Gourmet editor in chief Ruth Reichl's advice and stick to the used stacks?

Vintage cookbooks run the course between quirky, classic, and just plain strange. I love coming across old rotary club community cookbooks with recipes for jello salad and funky casseroles. If your tastes run a little more highbrow, any cook would appreciate a vintage MFK Fisher or James Beard book.

Half the fun of shopping for old cookbooks is browsing, so I tend to stick to used book stores. However, Amazon and eBay are great resources for vintage books as well. On Ruth's blog, she details her favorite shops for vintage cookbooks in New York and San Francisco.

What are your favorite vintage cookbooks?

• Read more: Ruth Reichl's Gift Guide Day 3

(Image: Omnivore Books)

Comments (12)

Dear Friends and Family, This, this is what I would like for Chanuka. Love, R_Claw

I adore my second hand copy of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream cookbook -- someone has made notes, corrections and suggestions in the margins, and they have never been wrong.

I adore old cookbooks!

My husband got me an old edition of a cookbook from the restaurant our wedding was at for our anniversary and it meant the world to me. The smell of the old pages is so nice!

I love my grandmothers Betty Crocker book! I may not cook from it often, but it means the world to me! (Mostly because it was hers and she gave it to me!)

For those in the Los Angeles area, there's actually a used cookbook store (yep, just cookbooks) in Pasadena: http://www.cookbookjj.com/

I have my mother's 1953 Pryex Prize Recipes cookbook. I haven't made anything from it but I love the vintage photography. And I used to love looking through the photos as a child.

I have 1st editions of the Betty Crocker cookbook from 1950 and the Cooky book from 1963. I love them both and use them often. And my cooky book has the annotations of the original owner with the dates she baked certain items and her ratings of the recipes she made!

I got a used copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking off Amazon (before the Julie-Julia craze) for something like $7. Not only does it have that beautiful vintage cover, but tucked inside there were five or six hand-typed index cards with random, delicious German recipes on them. Whether it was a gift or an oversight from the previous owner, I've been sure.

One of the coolest finds I ever bought was a $0.05 copy (no lie on the price) of a 1919 "Mrs. Curtis'" book on cooking and housekeeping. Still haven't read the entire giant (and slightly water damaged) tome, but vintage and antique cookbooks are always fascinating to me. I'll usually find one or two really great or intriguing recipes, but the rest are often good for at least a chuckle (Victorian obsession with oysters, anyone?).

Vintage cookbooks are always a better gift than brand new ones. 1920s and '30s farm and church cookbooks are my favorite. Y'know, in case Santa is reading this. :D

@Bungalow24 - I never thought about writing the date in a cookbook, but I think that's such a clever idea and I might just start it.

I am hopelessly addicted to vintage cookbooks and recipes. A couple of my favorite unusual ones are The Zodiac Cookbook ('69), Les Soupers D'un Diable Amoureux ('72). I think my oldest is the Ryzon Baking Book (ND, but between '16-'18). I love my original editions Betty Crocker and BHG ring-bounds, and one of my nicest finds was The American Woman's Cook Book ('56) that I got an awesome dumpling recipe from. (But the best cookbook of all is the one I compiled with family recipes - DO IT! It's so rewarding! - CreatingAnHeirloom.com)

i've had a fascination with old cookbooks since i was younger and i think they would make GREAT gifts. never thought to give them away. i just collect them myself, but people love to look at them when they spot them on my shelves. they're so full of personality and funny things. old party books are great too.