On Jan. 8, three experts answer live questions from Four Bites Show audience
Do you, or someone you know, have a cookbook problem?
Jocelyn “Josh” Ingram did. In 2018 a friend emailed me to ask if I could help her.
A collector, inheritor, and lover of cookbooks, late in life the former head Yeast-West baker found herself trapped by their weight. Ingram couldn’t stay in her archive apartment, and was frozen by the enormity of the task. Not just the sheer tonnage of compressed paper pulp in hardcover, but emotional weight, the ties she felt to many volumes.
After making some calls, we got much of her collection to a charity auction. Knowing that even some of her cherished collection would go on made her beam.
So, really: Do you, or someone you know, have a cookbook problem?
Bring your questions to the next episode of the Four Bites Show live on Jan. 8. (It’s one of the paid subscriber extras at Four Bites.) Or send your questions to andrew@fourbites.net and I’ll ask them for you.
The Four Bites Show is recorded live on Mondays. The next two are Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, so I decided to cancel those, and put my energies into organizing a live panel discussion on cookbook issues.
The Four Bites Show recording time, at the convenience of guests, has not been set for the Jan. 8 show yet. When I know for sure, I’ll share the time and send out the Zoom link, at least 24 hours ahead.
Like the three Four Bites episodes so far, it will be published to the Four Bites YouTube channel for free viewing.
We’ll have three experts to grill, with three angles on the problem of what art museums like to call, soothingly, “deaccessioning.”
How much are they really worth? A cookbook archivist and veteran reseller will level with you about how much that volume is worth, roughly. Plus how to sell it, if that seems like a worthwhile option.
What are the best ways to assemble a digital filing cabinet? A digital archivist will walk us through how to use standard-issue modern technology to save what we really need: recipes, photos, and other information. With a minor amount of technical assistance, taking and storing images with a phone or tablet, collectors can save a lifetime of reading, accessible on demand, for free.
What’s the best way to talk to people who find even the discussion distressing? Aging collectors can feel threatened by conversations that sound like funeral preparations, or worse. An expert in walking older people through tough decisions about where they’re going to live next will offer advice about developing a timeline, and more steps to take.
So that’s three live experts to question, plus me as host, lining up the questions and keeping my comments to a minimum. Send questions to andrew@fourbites.net if you’re unable to make the showtime.
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