When it comes to cookbooks, I must admit I have almost zero self restraint… 

Picture this: you’re wandering the streets of a small town in Sicily. After a delicious seafood lunch, accompanied by two Apérol spritzes. You spot a highly specialized Sicilian seafood cookbook in a little shop. Full of exotic ingredients, móstly unavailable where you live. But of course you buy the cookbook. Because: it’s the only cookbook you’ve encountered in three weeks. And also: food memories to recreate at home! But once at home: you never ever cook from that cookbook. Ever!

The cookbook junkie in me just couldn’t help herself… 🙂 And although it’s a personal choice to spend money on cookbooks in the first place – at some point I started to feel a bit guilty about spending it on books I honestly don’t use. So I set a couple of guidelines that help me decide if I should buy a certain book. This turned out to be very helpful, with more new cookbooks coming out every season.

These are the questions I ask myself, before deciding on a purchase. I hope it helps you too!

1. Is it different ór similar enough?

A cookbook can add value to your collection because it’s different from everything you already own. I recently bought a cookbook with recipes from eastern Europe. Because on a trip to Poland I really loved the local cuisine and wanted to try it at home. So this cookbook filled a gap for me. It was a better choice than buying anóther Italian cookbook, of which I already own several. 

Funny enough, a cookbook can also add value because it’s similar to what you already own. If you love your weeknight pasta dishes and are looking for fresh inspiration: a book can be worth buying if it does just that. Even if you already own many books on the subject. Just make sure the recipes for carbonara or puttanesca vary enough from those you already own.  

2. What’s inside the cookbook?

A cliché but: don’t judge a book by its cover alone. If you can, actually sit down in the bookstore and leaf through the entire thing to check out the complete contents. If your bookstore or library doesn’t have this book, read my post on How to check out the contents of a cookbook.

3. How many recipes make you salivate?

I don’t think many of us make all recipes from a cookbook cover to cover. I have, however, in the past bought books just because two or three recipes appealed to me. Warning: don’t flip through a cookbook when hungry…;-). 

Now I have a rule that at least 10 recipes should make me salivate. And they must seem possible for me to cook at home, with mostly store bought ingredients. If it’s less, I might just borrow the book from the library later and take some pictures of those specific recipes.

4. Are you comfortable with the ingredients?

Do you love using exotic ingredients and don’t mind having to order them online? Or do you just move on, if your local supermarket doesn’t offer it? 

Cookbooks from different parts of the world could ask for quite a few ingredients that aren’t in your pantry yet. Like fish sauce, curry leaves and lemon grass if you’d want to make authentic Thai food. Or some health oriented cookbooks ask for alternatives to cheese, sugar, or flour. 

The question is: are you willing to make that investment? Do you have the energy (and money) to gather everything Yotam Ottolenghi or Gwyneth Patrow says should be in your pantry? I find that I am willing to visit a local specialty shop, but I’m apparently less likely to buy ingredients online. So this is also a good filter for me. 

5. Does it fit your season? 

When I was still single, I spent my weekends choosing recipes, browsing the local market and specialty shops and spending hours cooking with some music in the background and a glass of wine. 

My life completely changed when I met my husband and became a stepmother to two teenage girls. Suddenly the most important thing about a recipe was that I could make it quickly after a busy workday with two little hungry wolves circling around me. In that phase of my life, I reached out to less complicated and less time consuming books like The Roasting Tin series, or Jamie Oliver books. 

Not every phase in your life is a season for Michelin star recipes. So ask yourself: does this cookbook support my current culinary season?  

6. Does it fit your ambitions?

Lastly, it’s fun to analyze your personal cookbook ambitions. 

Is it all about the stories for you? Then you might be thrilled with a beautifully designed book with storytelling that transports you to new places in the world. Even if the book just sits on your bedside table and never reaches the kitchen.

Your ambition to have more variation in everyday meals. Or to develop your technical skills. Or to start cooking more plant based dishes… It helps to know your personal ambitions, the next time you’re in front of the cookbook wall in your local bookstore.

Still not sure? Read my post on how to see the contents of a cookbook, before buying it.