About Bite Club, cookbook book club

 A couple of people are interested in knowing more, and, since the club has gone virtual, you can sign up and take part no matter where you are.  I don't think library cards matter in this context! Now's the time before vaccination eventually takes everyone offline and back in person. I've mentioned Bite Club several times, but I think it might not have been clear that it's a book club, run from a local public library.

To see what the cookbook book club, Bite Club, is about, see Bite Club

Note that the next meeting is Monday, January 25th, so the link will give you enough time to locate the book(s) as best you can, ebook or actual, and try out a couple of recipes.  In fact, Dee doesn't mind if you just want to come and talk food, and hear other people's verdicts.  I'd encourage you to follow up, if you're interested, and Dee will give you a terrific welcome without putting you on the spot.  She's very good with groups.

This is she, below, doing one of her YouTube presentations.  It's Dee Whitman, by day a reference librarian at South Brunswick Public Library nj and by night a fully qualified chef and great enthusiast.  Full credit: when she started the club several years ago, I was one of the early members, and I learned such a lot about good food, and buying ingredients and tasting as you go, all sorts of things I didn't know a lot about.

My baking is a separate thing, not so much affected by Bite Club, which is about cooking.  Dee does teach baking separately, but I haven't taken classes from her in that. I hear great things about them, though.

 I found this recipe in the course of looking out information for you, and I definitely think I'll make this ahead of getting my Misfits box tomorrow, with the salad greens I ordered.

Her YouTube occasional videos are very well done indeed.  As you see she knows how to set up the worktop clearly and logically, and doesn't draw attention to herself.  She's a teacher. Definitely a pro on camera.

Anyone who thinks I'm a good cook now can freely attribute it to what I learned from observing and listening to Dee. I was okay before, but I definitely jumped in knowledge as a result of her selections for the club.  I'd never heard of half the people whose ideas and food I borrow from now all the time. And you'll see that it's been a great improvement to my life, anyway.

My baking is a separate thing, not so much affected by Bite Club, which is about cooking.  Dee does teach baking separately, at the library, but I haven't taken baking classes from her. I hear great things about them, though. 

She's a very nice woman, who used to applaud my endless ingredient substitutions in our meetings, and taste before deciding! She's not at all one of those doctrinaire cooks.  Nowadays I rarely get to the meetings, but she has kept me on the mailing list, so I can occasionally keep up with the books. And the follow up email always comes with recommended recipes that the group liked a lot.

Before curbside pickup returned, she had to choose Hoopla offerings, and I had usually used up my monthly Hoopla allotment before I got the announcement, so I was a month behind each time.  But it still worked for me.

So that's Bite Club, and I am so happy I decided to join it years ago.  It was after Handsome Partner died, and I had to force myself to venture out, exhausted after years of being basically in the house with full-on caregiving, to make new friends, who didn't know me only as a caregiver, and to learn interesting new things.

The other participants in Bite Club range over a whole lot of cultures and languages, and they're great to learn from, too.  Some of them never ever use recipes, they just know their own culture's food well enough not to need them.  And they're generous about explaining and giving samples. I used to bring in handfuls of fresh herbs I picked right before I left the house, which were very well received.

We used to bring cooked recipe samples into the in-person meetings.  I quickly learned, that when I was going to sample the offerings of up to 15 people, I'd better not have dinner before I came out.  Currently the physical sharing's not a thing, but the idea sharing goes on unabated.

How it works: Dee chooses a food type or chef, and recommends, and gets into the library, enough copies for everyone to have one.  You might be working from a different book by the same chef, or a different book in the same vein, it works out just fine. Everyone picks something to try out, and makes notes to share, and brings a sample. Or they may not like anything in the book and they'll say that, too. 

Or they may go on and on, as I did, about Ottolenghi's Jerusalem, about the historical and cultural wonders of the book and the authors, before ever getting to the food you've tried.  They've found I usually end up with spice mixes, no matter where I start! I more or less force people to make baharat, or berbere, or some such good mix. You may have noticed this tendency.

What you need, if you're hoping for a local version, is a librarian willing to do all the work Dee puts in, and knowledgeable enough to know what books to work from, also a good enough cook that she'll try them herself, too. If you're blessed with this, try out the idea on your own library and see if there's any response.  

And now I'm off to track down the current books so I can try out, too. I don't get a commission for doing this writing, heh, but I really think Dee should add me to her personal payroll for the great pr I do for her..