Could Your Family Recipes Become a Bestselling Cookbook?

Howdy cookbook fans!

Hello from gorgeous Austin where finally, finally we have nice fall weather. (It’s going to be 94°F Friday though…sigh.) We have an EXCESS of kimchi liquid that I am planning on braising…something…in tonight. (Collards?) Otherwise I am in recipe-development-land. Keeping busy over here!

We’ve got a chunky newsletter today, with book designer Frances Abrantes Baca back to explore a design-forward cookbook, a bunch of book deals, a cookbooky survey that shows y’all think VERY HIGHLY of your meemaw’s recipes, and much more. Head to the website if this is too long for your email. Let’s get to it!

Today's issue of Stained Page News is brought to you by Knopf Cooks and Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America by Sandra A. Gutierrez. From Tortillas de Nixtamal (Fresh Masa Tortillas) and Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice), to Arepas Clásicas (Classic Arepas) and Pastel de Tres Leches (Tres Leches Cake), Latinísimo is filled with recipes that reflect the incredible breadth and richness of Latin culinary traditions. Order your copy today!

Most Americans Believe Their Family Recipes Could Be Bestsellers

Think you’ve got a bestselling cookbook in you? You’re not alone: Two-thirds of Americans believe their family recipes are “worthy” of bestselling cookbooks, according to a survey done by Bob Evans Farms (yes like the sausage people). Best of luck to all 220 million of you! (Someone is going to have to also…buy those cookbooks. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess.) Other stats from the survey:

• 71% have a family recipe from either their parents (54%), grandparents (40%), or great-grandparents (24%).

• Millennials (80%) are most likely to “continue their family's heritage through cooking” as compared to Boomers (76%), Gen X (75%) and Gen Z (67%). (Has Gen Z even had their cooking moment yet though?)

• Meanwhile, Gen X (77%) actually has possession of the family recipes, versus Boomers (76%), Millennials (68%), and Gen Z (53%).

So! Do you have family recipes? Would you publish them? Have you published them? I wish I had my grandmother’s bread dumplings recipe, sigh. I’ll have to tinker with that and see if I can recreate it.

The Creative Brief with Frances Abrantes Baca

It was 1977 when Deborah Barsel, a young employee of the noted American photography museum the George Eastman House (now the George Eastman Museum),