Cookbook Club FAQ
What is the Cookbook Club?
The Kitchen Arts & Letters Cookbook Club is a passionate community of cookbook devourers, food and drink enthusiasts, and culinary adventurers hosted by Chef Annette Tomei of Wander, Eat and Tell.
Each three-month season has a creative theme featuring three cookbooks. Annette creates generous supplemental materials including a monthly “menu assignment” from each book.
Past themes include Cooking Off the Beaten Path, Exploring Flavor, and Legendary Women Cookbook Authors (an ongoing series).
Each month features a single cookbook that is discussed over the course of two 90-minute Zoom meetings. The guided discussions take participants on deeper dives into story, design, culture, and–of course–cooking (which members do on their own time).
Most months also include a bonus 30-minute Q&A session with the featured book’s author, too!
We offer annual, seasonal, and monthly membership options.
Books from a Legendary Women Cookbook Authors season
Who are the other members?
Our members span ages, backgrounds, and geographic regions from NYC to Bellingham, WA, to as far away as Spain!
Some members have been around since the beginning of the club over four years ago. Others join for single months when a featured book grabs their interest.
Everyone is warmly welcomed and encouraged to engage in the lively discussions (though not required).
What is a meeting like?
Meetings take place on Zoom on two Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30 PM Eastern Time.
The first meeting of each month focuses on the book itself: the story, the culture shared, the author’s history, and more, depending on the book.
The second meeting of each month is all about our experience cooking from the book. Members share photos of their cooking experiences with Annette who makes individual collages of the photos. These are shared during the meeting. Everybody is invited to talk about their experiences, answer each other’s questions, and claim their bragging rights, if they like!
What do I get with my membership?
Each month members receive a copy of the month's featured cookbook shipped to them.
They also receive a series of emails from Annette that include the monthly menu assignments, supplemental information, and other tidbits of interest. They also have access to the community via a monitored Google Classroom, as well as private one-on-one engagement with Annette via email throughout their membership.
Two monthly Zoom meetings and (when available) a 30-minute Q&A session with the featured author or other person of interest.
Members also have access to supplemental members-only programs with Annette including Chef’s Kitchen Cook Along sessions or other supplemental classes and meet-ups.
Annual members receive additional benefits, including free access to one supplemental class each season.
Why don’t you cook in Cookbook Club?
In a nutshell, cooking as a group on Zoom is complicated. It puts a lot of pressure on everyone. It may be fun to do once in a while, but Annette didn’t feel it was sustainable in the long term.
She feels it’s more important and more valuable to engage with your cookbooks on a deeper level. Yes, it’s great to cook from them, but there’s so much more enjoyment and enrichment from reading your books and sharing the full experience with a group of like-minded enthusiasts. And so far, she’s been right!
What if I just want to listen in to the conversation?
All levels of participation are welcome! Some people are in the Club to engage in joyful discourse. Others to listen, to learn, to gain inspiration… Nobody is left out, nor are they put on the spot.
And even if you don’t want to talk on Zoom, you’re always welcome to engage privately with Annette or with others through the private Google Classroom.
What if I miss a session?
All sessions, including author Q&As and supplemental classes, are recorded to a private YouTube channel and links to the recordings are shared via email (usually within 24 hours of the session). Recordings are also posted on the private Google Classroom.
If there’s anything we missed in this list, please feel free to email Annette (Annette@WanderEatandTell.com) or Kitchen Arts & Letters (Annette@KitchenArtsandLetters.com or letters@KitchenArtsandLetters.com)
You can also read more about our cookbook club on the PBS affiliate, Next Avenue: https://www.nextavenue.org/cookbook-clubs-perfect-for-foodies/
