Confessions of a cookaholic

“Hello, my name is Angela and I am a cookbook/cooking magazine addict.”

It all started when I bought a cookbook at the Englishtown Flea Market in Englishtown, N.J. back in the late 1980's. What attracted me to the cookbook was a recipe on how to skin and cook a possum. Of course, I never tried the recipe, but I just had to have that cookbook. It was very old and it looked like a cookbook I once saw at my grandmother's house in Virginia.

From there, I started collecting all kinds of cookbooks. Books from other ethnic backgrounds, cookbooks with collections from church groups, cookbooks using five ingredients or less. I usually buy books because of the color photographs.

I love getting cookbooks written by celebrities. At last count I had over 2,000 cookbooks. As for cooking related magazines, well, let's just say with the exception of the June 2004 issue of Bon Appetit that my brother borrowed from me and has yet to return to me, I have every copy of Food and Wine and Bon Appetit magazines dating back to 1994. I've also began collecting Good Food and Delicious magazines from the U.K. Yes, I would say I am out of control.

The reason I am writing this confession is because I am moving out of my house of seven years and I realized after looking at all of the cookbooks and magazines stored in my basement, that I need help. I hate to throw out anything with a recipe in it. I thought of renting a storage unit for my collection, but decided that that was insane. Do I rent a storage unit that can store up to a room and a half of furniture for my collection or do I get one that can store up to two rooms of furniture for future cookbooks and magazines?

I thought of donating books and magazines to the culinary department at a local vocational-technical high school. Or maybe the library, this way, I could go back to the library to sit and read my magazines again.

Maybe someone else is going through the same kind of addiction that I am going through and maybe they can give me some idea of what to do with all of these cookbooks. You would think that being a mother and a grandmother, I would worry more about my kids. But when I sit in the basement and look over old recipes and read stories of how certain countries relate to food and their culture, it just gives me great pleasure. To cook something that was made in ancient Greece or Ireland, to try recreating a dish that Julia Child made while living in France, that just makes my day.

But I have to get rid of some of these books. So if there's anyone that can give me some tips, please do.

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