Going online to check my email this evening, I stumbled across this interesting blog entry from one of the contributing editors at Delish: http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/newest-cooking-apps-making-cookbooks-obsolete
As smartphones gain popularity with soccer moms as well as tech nerds, more and more apps are being created to help busy parents successfully manage their households. Among these apps are several which give helpful recipes, videos, photographs, and interactive shopping lists to help people prepare gourmet meals with relative ease.
In a New York Times article, writer Julia Moskin asks readers to ponder the question, "Are Cookbooks Obsolete?" We've already been forced to face the possibility of a future without paper literature, but is this another genre bound to suffer the same fate?
I admit the idea of an electronic cookbook has its charms. Having the ability to access instructional videos to help the reader accomplish an unfamiliar culinary task would do wonders for cooking novices like me. Also, I imagine having access to electronic cooking apps would provide "readers" with a greater selection of recipes to choose from. Besides, this is hardly a new idea, as for years now television channels and websites such as Food Network have been providing essentially the same service.
But are there people out there who cling to their cookbooks as strongly as I cling to my Harry Potter hardcovers? Is there a quality of the paper books that would be impossible for digital resources to duplicate? And somehow I imagine an iPhone or iPad isn't nearly as forgiving as a relatively inexpensive book when it comes to spills and drops in the kitchen...
Does anyone here see electronic formats of cookbooks replacing paper copies on library shelves any time soon? Can anyone think of any other benefits or drawbacks for switching formats? Please feel free to comment below.
Convenience is the word of the decade. If people can get any recipe online, why have a hard copy cookbook that only has 100 recipes. I think that this trend might be even more prevalent than e-readers.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Smithsonian.com, cookbooks just aren't as convenient as the apps and e-readers and so they are becoming obsolete like you mentioned. For the whole article: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2011/03/traditional-cookbooks-vs-e-readers-searches-and-apps/
In addition online recipes being plentiful, there are also numerous searches that you simply can't do with a hard cover cookbook. For example, mentioned in the above article is the fact that some websites will let you enter the ingredients you want to use and then find a recipe that will work. It is simply becoming easier for those soccer moms to find meals that will work.
In conclusion, I definitely think that the digital age is changing the way we cook!
For one, I love using my iPod for recipes because it's small and easier to manipulate than a big, clunky cookbook in the kitchen. I'm always struggling to find a way to prop the book open with my limited counter space without spilling on it. Don't get me wrong, I love cookbooks, but I usually just copy the recipes out of them so that I don't have to physically have them in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteAnother positive about online recipes is that many of them have comment forums so that users can give their opinions or changes to the recipes. It's just a great way to see what works well and what doesn't.
This post seemed to relate to me,as this evening I spent about ten minutes trying to find a recipe for pizelles among a collection of cook books, note cards and loose papers in my house. After no luck, I did a google search on my smart phone, and found a suitable recipe within minutes.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think the functionality of being able to access recipes digitally is very convenient and will only get more popular, I cannot envision the market for e-cook books to take over. First, the success of cook books often rides on the visual imagery and layout; there must be amazing photography. We want to be able to read a cook book like a picture book that describes the ideal menu throughout the seasons or throughout a six course dinner. Second, this digitization of recipes, I think, can be better served through apps that organize ones recipes. Just like there's apps to store contact information into a database by using one's camera phone to snap a picture of a business card, the same can be utilized for recipe cards. And finally, I tend to think that getting cook books at the library are impulse loans: We often go to the library to get a particular material, and then see a bunch of cook books displayed in the new non-fiction section near the checkout desk. Its all very serendipitous.
Of course, with the fact that we are seeing tablets increase in size and functionality such as 3G capabilities, perhaps I am wrong. After looking at the the best selling e-versions of cook books on Amazon, I noticed a trend: the best selling e-cook books are instructional or very information heavy. For example, the "fat flush" is the number one best seller, which is very instructional and does not follow my ideal book layout of imagery dependency. Others in the top ten have to do with cooking vegetarian or deal with special nutritional circumstances such as acid re flux. I had to scan all the way down to number 32 on the list to find an image heavy cook book. The title: The Star Trek Cook Book!
In the end with my pizelle making night, as I have already made the batter, I go to get the pizelle maker appliance-- and viola! I had left the recipe in the machine. Turns out I could really use a recipe database app.
I agree with Stephanie in that the digital age is changing the way we cooks for sure. However, I'd be very surprised to see Overdrive list a cookbook as one of its most read items.
Thanks for the great topic!
-Joshua Meyer
@Joshua Meyer: I like how you brought up that what often makes a printed cookbook so successful is its aethetics, namely the inclusion of photos of tasty-looking food--this indeed has yet to crossover a great deal into the eBook format. (Just the other day I previewed such a book in electronic format on my computer, just to turn it away when I was disappointed in how little actual information I contained.
ReplyDeleteWhile I still treasure a few printed cookbooks--namely my autographed Paula Deen and a ratty copy of Betty Crocker--I agree that these new cooking apps readily lend themselves to the activity. The art of cooking is continuously evolving and highly collaborative, as such it is useful to have a medium which is dynamic and directly interactive with users. I wonder if in future eBooks might somehow incorporate some of the technologies that make certain apps so appealing.
@Lori Harrison: Just curious, but do you ever worry about spilling liquid on your iPod in the kitchen? I'm such a klutz, I usually just use printed recipes so I'm not out a bunch of money in the event of my pasta boiling over... ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree, I love websites such as Taste of Home and Food Network because of feedback from users--so often I've made a recipe from a book only to have it turn out disgusting. It's nice to have the opinions of others besides the chef behind the recipe; this is an area where I can see electronic formats really excelling over their printed peers.
@Stephanie Pung: Thank you for the link to the blog; it was very informative!
ReplyDeleteYour comment about printed books only having a defined quantity of recipes reminded me that many electronic cooking resources allow you to have an account in which you can mark the recipes you enjoy as your favorites and have them readily available. By having a virtual recipe box, the user is essentially his or her own cookbook editor, compiling collections of recipes they find pleasing. This level of power over content is nearly impossible to duplicate when it comes to printed resources (unless you cut out or copy the recipes by hand and put them in a box, but who has the time these days to do this?)
I am not an IPod user but I always Google new recipes (Google has this new search feature called Recipe, that helps find only recipes when entering the search keywords), or watch the cooking/baking steps on YouTube. Of course, I have my cookbooks, but I always found them a waste of money and paper since that among 200 recipes in my book, I won’t really use more than 2 or 3.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, being able to use different websites to find the most approved and recommended recipe sounds perfect. This is the same with all other kinds of non-fiction readings: Going straight to the information is the best way to find the right and needed information in a timely manner. (It’s funny and yet not always true, since I often find myself taken to other subjects and other interests; the web is too tempting with all those irresistible eye-catching titles)
On another hand, I appreciate the fact to be able to read my fiction books anywhere, anytime. Of course, it does not bring the same feeling as a bound book, the smell of paper, the style and the shape of the book cover, the pages being turned...but isn’t this just nostalgia? This is all because I belong to those old people who were raised reading bound books. (I am not that old! I just belong to the same time as everybody else for who E-Readers and E-books are something new and revolutionary).
Two days ago, my son’s teacher (my son is in Kindergarten) announced that she wanted to go green and so she asked her students to read their books on the computer (through a reading website). That’s when I realized that maybe this new generation won’t feel the need of a bound book with pages that you flip or the joy of using a bookmark that you choose according to the season or the mood. In fact, I don’t think kids my son’s age or younger will ever miss or know those popup books, or miss turning the pages of a big picture book on their lap.
Wouldn’t that be enough to save some trees?
As Librarians we should create that bridge between the old and the new, we should help the public accept that transition between the traditional and the new way of reading. After all, this flexibility is what made libraries survive all these years and centuries.