The Cookbook Club Is the New Dinner Party

Some people relax by watching Netflix on their couch. Alana Laverty is the type of person who plops down and peruses cookbooks.

So when Laverty, 29, moved to London a few years ago, she thought she’d try her hand at a cookbook club—an edible spin on the age-old book club. In April 2023, a six-person cohort gathered at Laverty’s house in West London armed with ingredients, and began cooking different recipes out of Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That?

“We all have such busy lives, and it can be really hard to make consistent plans,” says Laverty, whose group now meets monthly. “I think it’s really about that time together and that sense of community.”

As cookbooks’ and chefs’ cultural cache swells, cookbook clubs like Laverty’s are growing alongside them, too. Although cookbook clubs have been around for decades, the pandemic ushered in a new wave of get-togethers, with many discovering the phenomenon on TikTok.

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“They became much bigger in 2020,” says cookbook author Paula Forbes, who also runs a cookbook industry newsletter. “It was like a relatively easy way to connect with friends. I think, in general, people are just interested in connecting with a cookbook as a whole in a deeper and sort of more detailed way.”

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.”

Carminito is a member of five cookbook clubs, some of which are virtual. She is a co-host of the in-person San Francisco Cookbook Club, a members-only group largely organized through Facebook. Carminito or one of her co-administrators asks questions of prospective applicants about their love of cookbooks before letting them into the club.

Each event is potluck-style and usually capped at 20 members—and the club has drawn some starry guests. Andrea Nguyen, the cookbook author behind books like Ever-Green Vietnamese, and BUDMO!: Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen scribe Anna Voloshyna have both showed up to taste recipes out of their own books. “We love it when they show up and come to the events and make an appearance and sign cookbooks,” says Carminito.

BookTok has sent titles from authors like Sarah J. Maas and Colleen Hoover skyrocketing on best-seller charts. It wouldn’t be surprising if CookbookTok emerges as a force next. “I think in good times and bad, food is the one thing we can rely on and cooking for people is the deepest way to connect,” says book packager Leslie Jonath. “If you’re doing it as a group, it’s pretty amazing.”

Ready to start your own cookbook club? Try these favorites.