Eight women discuss “Cook Like a Pro” by Ina Garten during the inaugural meeting of their cookbook club May 22 in the Sydney Wright Room of the North Road library. Each member chooses a recipe from the selected book to prepare for a potluck. The cookbook for the June meeting is “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier” by Ree Drummond.
Mysterious, thrilling, romantic and mythical are among the adjectives used to describe the themes of local book clubs through the years.
The newest club at the North Road library, however, might be the first that can be accurately called “mouthwatering.”
The Page to Plate Club, which focuses on cookbooks, met for the first time May 22 in the Sydney Wright Room. The club has a unique component to its meeting: a potluck prepared by its members.
Emma MacIntyre, the community services librarian, founded the club through inspiration from other cookbook clubs in Rhode Island, including North Kingstown, Tiverton, Westerly and South Kingstown.
“I think it is a really neat concept and great way to bring community members together,” she said. “We have a pretty substantial collection of cookbooks in the library and they are very popular. I was hopeful that there would be some excitement and interest in a cookbook club.”
Members of the club, which meets monthly on the fourth Wednesday, bring their own dishes with the library providing the utensils, tables and beverages. Each reader selects a recipe from that month’s cookbook and prepares it for the meeting.
Chipotle Parmesan sweet corn made by librarian Emma MacIntyre.
To ensure there are no duplicates, members are asked to e-mail their selection to MacIntyre in advance so she can publish the list of claimed recipes on the event’s webpage. For example, for the June meeting, the selection is “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier” by Ree Drummond, and somebody already has claimed the tomato, watermelon and feta salad.
The inaugural cookbook selection in May was “Cook Like a Pro” by Ina Garten. MacIntyre said she decided to pick that title because Garten is a celebrity chef whose book is easily available through the Ocean State Libraries’ loan program. While there was only one copy available in Jamestown, MacIntyre was able to order 10 additional copies through the interlibrary program.
Garten, who has an Emmy Award from three nominations, is known for hosting the Food Network cooking show “Barefoot Contessa” from 2002-21. She published “Cook Like a Pro,” a New York Times bestseller, in 2018. MacIntyre said the book has a wide range of recipes, from small appetizers to desserts, which offers “enough variety that at least one recipe appeals to everyone signed up.”
“One of the things I am really excited about for this club is that there is a lot of freedom for people to experiment and try something new,” she said. “Whatever catches their eye, they should sign up for it.”
Jamestown resident Marie Schappert, who joined with one of her neighbors, was among eight women, including MacIntyre, to attend the first meeting. Schappert made Garten’s baked spinach and zucchini dish.
“I love zucchini, I love spinach and I love the combination,” she said. “It’s like a casserole with eggs. It’s almost like a quiche.”
MacIntrye made the chipotle Parmesan sweet corn.
“I chose this recipe because it looks like a nice, light side dish that would be great for upcoming summer cookouts,” she said. “Everyone tried making something new. Many from the group said they would be making their recipe again and trying more from the book.”
Although it wasn’t planned, Schappert said there was “a good combination” of food at the first meeting with appetizers, main courses, casseroles and dessert all being represented.
“We weren’t directed to that end,” she said, “but it worked out that way.”
Instead of the members being required to read the entirety of each cookbook, Macintrye is encouraging them to browse the books to get a sense of their structures. Along with the potluck, each meeting will include a discussion about that month’s cookbook with MacIntyre preparing questions about the difficulty of following the recipes and which dishes, aside from the potluck selections, they would like to try.
“I am hopeful that most of the discussion will take place organically as we enjoy each other’s company and some delicious food,” MacIntyre said.
Going into the second meeting provides more opportunities for discussion, according to MacIntyre. They can compare the cookbooks of Garten and Drummond, for example, and discuss the similarities and contrasts between their recipes.
“The options for discussion and structure remain open-ended,” she said. “I am eager to receive feedback from participants after this first meeting, to best understand what they would like to see moving forward,” MacIntyre said.
Calling it a “welcoming space of connection for the Jamestown community,” MacIntrye hopes the members can build new friendships through the club.
“I think food can be nourishing for a person’s whole self,” she said. “I would love for this club to become a meaningful space that brings people together to experience casual conversation and a shared love of preparing and enjoying food.”
