The Cookbook Club Is the New Dinner Party

While Laverty’s club makes their meals in-person as a group, other clubs operate more potluck-style with members preparing different recipes at home out of the same book. Many bookstores, libraries, and food creators are opening up membership in cookbook clubs to the public, allowing anyone to join.

Madison Sweitzer had just moved to New York when she discovered Stephanie Lau, an accountant and food content creator, on Instagram. Lau hosts monthly cookbook clubs, and Sweitzer thought it would be a nice way to meet friends. “It does make for a fun social environment,” says Sweitzer.

Once Kristina Cho’s Mooncakes & Milk Bread was picked as the book, Sweitzer says Lau organized a Google Doc to help the nearly 40 foodies avoid making the same Chinese bakery-inspired recipes. “It was inspiring to get to try some different things that weren’t on my usual rotation,” Sweitzer says.

Over the past year, everyone from Stephen Colbert to TikTok “sandwich king” Owen Han has come out with new cookbooks. Even Bridgerton—yes, the TV show—released a book of recipes. “There are just many, many more cookbooks published these days than there used to be,” says Forbes. “There are a lot of TikTok deals, YouTubers getting deals, but also food personalities that came from other places.”

That glut has given Jaciel Asegurado and her following plenty of books to choose from. Last January, Asegurado had a desire to go out and meet new people, so she decided to organize around one of her passions: cookbooks. What began as an event for a handful of her friends has grown into a 1,500-person Facebook group. Asegurado welcomes members at Solid State Books in Washington, D.C., where she hosts small groups of cookbook lovers every week for $15. “Once we drop the tickets, it gets sold out in like 40 minutes,” she says.

It’s not only about socializing. While many cookbooks sit on shelves after a page or two of recipes are put to use, cookbook club members now have an easy way to taste an entire book.

For some, that means bringing their own book to life. When food stylist Bebe Black Carminito came out with The Curated Board: Inspired Platters & Spreads for Any Occasion in September, the author visited Seattle as part of her book tour. But one of her stops was unlike most author events. Carminito visited a cookbook club that tapped her book. “It was just so absolutely humbling to see people bring recipes from my cookbook and to see everything on a table,” she says. “It’s just a lot of work and for someone to do that, it’s an act of love.”