Whipping Up a Book of Treasured Family Recipes

Create a timeline

Creating a timeline is always a good exercise for any book pertaining to life stories. Start by dividing your life into a) decades, b) milestones, or c) places you’ve lived in. Brainstorm events for each section, writing down as much detail as you can; just let the ideas flow freely and don’t worry about editing anything for now.

Gather material

Look for recipes that you can include in your book. You can also interview your family to get more ideas for stories and recipes.

Choose a theme

Decide on the composition of your book—will it be heavier on stories or recipes? You could try out these themes:

• Recipes and anecdotes from a cook or connoisseur in the family
• A variety of recipes and memories from different members of the family
• Recipes handed down from generation to generation, complete with a family tree
• Recipes and stories from a particular time in your life or the lives of your family members, like wartime recipes that are still being used today, or favorite recipes for special occasions like holidays, birthdays, weddings, and other family traditions
• Favorite dishes from your travels

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

After moving from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver and her family embarked on one year of doing a locally-produced diet. Their project eventually bloomed into a farm-to-table restaurant, as well as a community development project for young farmers to take up sustainable food production.

The Language of Baklava: A Memoir by Diana Abu-Jaber

Diana Abu-Jaber grew up with the influence of two cultures: American and Jordanian. Her memoir recounts being raised by a father who was obsessed with food, and includes stories of cookouts in Lake Ontario and feasts in the Bedouin desert.

Life From Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness by Sasha Martin

Sasha Martin set out to prepare and enjoy a meal from every country of the world in 195 weeks. Her memoir explores her childhood spent cooking with her eccentric mother, the foster homes she lived in, and the very home where she launched her challenge.

Sit down with the recipe and think of people tied to it. You can then think of reminiscences of those people, accompanying memories with lovely photos. If your problem is the opposite—got a story but lacking a recipe or photos to go with it—you can simply use photos of the people involved and a recipe that you think would complement the reminiscence.