Was in Costco this previous weekend and saw my first ever cookbook ereader device: It was pretty, nice to play with, and featured timers, converters and a rich level of content with each recipe.
This little number was exciting. I could picture myself cooking, running out of a wine – and being able to avoid a disaster by looking up the ingredient’s substitution in five seconds. Phew-situation diverted. (I can’t help it, I think in dramatic scenarios.) Then the communication student in me couldn’t help but wonder – what does this little device do through the perspective of McLuhan’s Tetrad. I’m pretty certain that as soon as humans began writing, recipes were created. Can’t you see the hieroglyphics of stewed crocodile? Yum (dramatic thinking).
But I think that for the most part of history – recipes were personalized and did not bear resemblance to the mass produced secrets of Julia Child’s French cooking nor that Naked Chef”s universal localized agenda. But the books were in paper form. You could write notes, edit emphasis of ingredients, pages would have actual bookmarks and favourite recipes would bare the stains of meals well-enjoyed and happily-shared. You could give your South African- Afrikaans-university-days’ cookbook to your daughter – Thirty years after your first degree.
Demy, you can’t do that. And are you charming enough in other ways to make me forget what I lose?
Christi & Claire cook 