Our ForeMothers'
Cookbooks
"I've always been a foodie. My grandmother got me hooked on cooking.
— Debi Mazar
My grandparents after a day of fishing Acapulco.
Growing up in New England in a large family, I can recall the family holiday meals with my grandparents and extended family was, depending on the crowd, always a spirited affaire. They beguiled us with their tales as world travelers, of celebrations and great food, though I had to agree with my Auntie Mame (every family has one), eating live monkey brains at a Sultan's table was way beyond even my adventurous palette.
These are the memories I try to capture in each family's treasured Our Foremothers' Cookbook.
Recently, a friend who had saved all the family's old cookbooks from her great-grandmothers and grandmothers, and she wanted to know if I could save them and add photos and some family stories as well… And Our Foremothers' Cookbook was created.
Our Process
All items are scanned from the old cookbooks, along with all the handwritten notes and clipped, dog-eared recipes that have been squirreled away in a card file box or among the pages of their favorite cookbooks
Because many of the pages will be stained from years of use (I call them the most loved recipes) there is often dried food left behind that has turned to powder and removing that as well as carefully handling each page that has become fragile parchment can be a challenge, and we handle every item as a treasure.
Family photos and stories along with some of the recipes also make for great memories. We are able to restore most old family photos and recipe pages to create a family heirloom cookbook that can be expanded (depending on the binding method) as treasured recipes are recovered through the years.
Each project is an individual's custom project so pricing can vary on the volume of pages to be scanned and restored to the best version possible. All projected will be converted to PDF files that you can also share with other family members.
Read my blog to learn more about telling your family's story through family recipes, photos, and illustrations to a cookbook that can be shared digitally and as a printed version.