Cook Book Clubs: how to bring the joy back into cooking

Buying a cook book feels like an extremely adult thing to do, and also a little pointless as a student. With limited resources, and limited funds, pages and pages of complicated recipes can seem extremely daunting. But cookbook clubs are a way to bring the joy back into cooking, and give purpose to that recipe book your parents gave you when you first moved to university. 

The premise of a cook book club is fairly simple: gather a group of your friends, and have a wholesome dinner party, where everyone brings a dish from the same cook book. There are no real rules on how to host a cookbook club, so it can take the form of a wholesome dinner party, or a group cooking session.  

Cook book clubs have been a trend for a few years now, but recently, cook book clubs have gained traction due to how surprisingly simple they are. User @alanalavv on tiktok describes her cook book club as were her and her friends choose one book a month, claim some recipes each, and join to have a little lunch to share their dishes – a little like a potluck.  

As a student, hosting a cook book club feels a little unrealistic. Finding the time to arrange this seems impossible, especially with final deadlines approaching. But, I think this could be the perfect self-care activity to share with friends. It doesn’t have to be a huge, fancy event, and that’s the beauty of a cook book club – it can just be an evening where your housemates share the cooking load. 

My tips for starting your own cook book club would be to find a group of friends who are willing to share the responsibility with you, so one person is not left to organise everything, and to find a book that is accessible to students. My current favourite cookbook is Ottolenghi’s Simple. Here, you can find recipes suitable for a range of skill levels, and they are designed to be (you guessed it) simple. Happy cooking!