Physical media in a digital age

January 15, 2025 by
 |  14 Comments  |  Leave Comment

We have reported before about how cookbooks continue to do well while much of the publishing market struggles with sluggish and even falling sales. The usual arguments for the success of this genre are that people prefer the tactile feel of books, it is easier to cook or bake from a printed page than from a screen, and that cookbooks are more aesthetically pleasing than online media. These are all true, but another important way that cookbooks provide value over online tools – one that is often overlooked – is that they are permanent.

Major food websites have closed down on short notice, sometimes without providing users with a method to download the recipes that they have come to rely upon. Links get broken. Streaming services quietly pull programs and artists from their lineup with no warning. These problems simply do not exist with physical media. People have started buying DVDs, CDs and vinyl records again because they worry (rightly) that movies and albums will not be available online in perpetuity, not to mention the fact that the quality of music is usually much better on physical media.

I recently discovered that when our microwave is in use, it interferes with our wi-fi (we are working to mitigate this, but it is far down on the to-do list). This is frustrating if I am, for instance, defrosting something that takes several minutes and meanwhile I cannot access the recipe website I was using. I don’t have to worry about my internet service being interrupted when I am cooking from a book. I don’t even have to worry about power outages because I have a gas cooktop and a flashlight. A cookbook doesn’t care if the electricity is on.

It’s true that there are downsides to physical media. Fires and floods can damage or destroy a collection gathered over a lifetime. There are limits on how much room is available for cookbooks (or can be allocated to cookbooks without spousal revolt). However, I’m still betting that it is more likely for a website to disappear than for my house to burn down, so I will continue to buy books even though I use recipe websites (and of course use EYB to find the recipes, no matter where they are stored). I am also taking the precaution of downloading favorite recipes that are not available in a printed form (whether a print to PDF or even a screenshot), just in case.

All this to say: cookbooks will – and should – continue to be prized because of the many advantages they have over online resources. When you find a cookbook author that clicks with your palate and cooking style, it is wonderful to have a collection of those recipes readily at hand in one of their books. It’s also a wonderful way to recognize and support such authors. Long live the cookbook!

Category: Cookbook Lovers

Post a comment

14 Comments

  • Indio32  on  January 16, 2025

    Fantastic post…. have been saying this for years. Subscribed to Spotify for 3 years. I had absolutely nothing to show for that subscription payment after I cancelled whereas if I used the money for physical media I’d have owned around 400 tracks.
    Also with regards digital books no one seems to talk about the down sides of not being able to lend them to a friend, give them/buy them from a charity shop and constantly being fearful that the service will close and take them all with it…. look at the excellent work Louis Rossmman is doing on YouTube about content providers changing terms of service after they have your money.

  • FJT  on  January 16, 2025

    I understand all the reasons for having the physical cookbook, but I would argue that budget, space restrictions and the convenience of having an e-book when you’re away from home are all excellent reasons for having e-cookbooks.
    They’ve saved my bacon a few times … the not so funny 15 months when the US govt decided to stop processing foreign visas so I couldn’t get mine renewed and was stranded abroad in a variety of rental kitchens, or the time when I had to fly back to the U.K. for 6 weeks to care for my In-Laws after one of them had major surgery.
    If I was limited to buying physical cookbooks I would have a much reduced collection; I tend to get them as gifts, but I no longer buy them for myself.

  • KatieK1  on  January 16, 2025

    Besides the fact that I have really no room for more books in this apartment, many of the new cookbooks have ridiculously small type and silly design. Take for instance the cookbook in the above picture. Why is the block of type on the right hand page shoved next to the gutter, with that huge margin on the right? Also, with a good ebook you can enlarge the type and not have to struggle to read the text.

  • averythingcooks  on  January 16, 2025

    Of course This is obviously a very personal choice for people and each will have their own reasons for their preference but for me…I’m all about the books. There is something about that physical object that appeals to old school me. And the excitement of receiving a new book and sitting down with your beverage of choice to page through it looking for “must make 1sts” gives me a specific visceral feeling of joy. Sometimes when thinking about what to make for dinner, I run my hands along the spines on the shelves looking for inspiration of who to pull. My collection of roughly 200 titles is a loved & much used possession.

  • bwhip  on  January 16, 2025

    While I do love my physical, paper cookbooks – there comes a point where there just isn’t any more room in our home for them. We already have them scattered all over the house, wherever there is spare shelf or cabinet space.
    Over the past few years, I’ve definitely made a big shift toward Kindle books on my iPad. A big reason for that is the bargain prices available on so many titles. Thanks to EYB for regularly updating us on those! When I can get a $40 cookbook for $2.00, and have it with me wherever I am, it really helps for meal planning and grocery lists. I can always take a screen shot and print the recipe out for cooking, if for some reason I’d rather do that than pull it off the screen.

  • tmjellicoe  on  January 16, 2025

    I like a physical cookbook to flip through. I will buy a digital version of a book I have my eye on if comes up for the $2 super sale to see if I really want it in hard copy.

  • MFJ196  on  January 16, 2025

    I love both, the real books and the Kindle versions. It’s especially satisfying now with the EYB/CKBK collaboration. Bravo to both companies on how successful that’s been!

  • eliza  on  January 16, 2025

    This is a great topic Darcie! My collection of a few hundred cookbooks is split between physical books and kindle books, and there are advantages to both for me. I write in my physical books, checking off the recipes I’ve made and keeping a list at the front with page numbers; at the same time I appreciate kindle books as to price and not needing physical space to store them.
    I have several strategies for my physical books: I take cookbooks out of the library and often don’t end up buying them. Also I buy my physical books second hand whenever possible. Cost is much less, and you’re using a book that might otherwise have been landfill. More second hand purveyors (for example World of Books in the UK) are also now paying royalties to authors on second hand books they sell. Most of my second hand purchases have appeared brand new.

  • JimCampbell  on  January 16, 2025

    Good conversation. I can see a lot of folks prefer the online world.

    I am definitely in the old-school camp. I like sitting in my chair in the evening with a glass of wine reading a cookbook. I like the tactile feel of a book. I find myself to drifting from the cookbook I am reading to looking across the room at the stacks, contemplating similar cookbooks I may wish to revisit. It’s not unusual to see a half dozen cookbooks next to the chair, and even a wine stain or two.

    I do agree the amount of cookbooks amassed, 1,540 and counting, does come at the expense of space. The spouse has been extremely patient with this addiction. I am slowing down.

    I buy most cookbooks at thrift shops, and at the local ‘Friends of the Library’ bookshops where the proceeds go back into the library. I do still get caught up occasionally in a food review here on EYB and end up on Amazon.

  • demomcook  on  January 16, 2025

    I’m in both camps, but I really agree with KatieK1. Being able to set up my kindle with huge, easy to read print makes it much easier to use my cookbooks in real life. Also, after collecting for decades, modern paper doesn’t last, and the older books are less permanent than you might think. With space at a premium, it is a pleasure to be able to add a kindle book on sale, or check one out from the library to see how I’ll like it before making the jump to a real book.

  • KarenGlad  on  January 17, 2025

    It’s hard copy for me still. My happy place is curling up on the couch with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and a selection of cookbooks from my stash. I contemplated a kindle but haven’t made the leap yet. Instead I signed up for ckbk which I’m really enjoying. But I confess I’m printing a hard copy of the recipe I want to use. I have cooked and baked from my iPad but I prefer a printed page that I can scribble on and not worry about spills or sticky fingers. I want to give up my subscription to NYTCooking but before I do, now I have to go back and print those favourite recipes because I’ll no longer have access to them. I guess I should have put that money towards a kindle or purchased books on my iPad – or bought a hard copy book.

  • racheljmorgan  on  January 17, 2025

    I prefer the physical. Unless it’s available as a downloadable pdf (rare nowadays), the ebook format is just difficult to follow and often ugly. I’ve also managed to lose most of my purchased ebooks through account closures or computer woes; I have paper cookbooks that have traveled with me since age 11 unscathed. Physical media, especially hardback, is more lasting and useful while cooking.

  • gamulholland  on  January 18, 2025

    I have a Wishlist online which I check regularly, which is just a list of cookbooks I own in print format. When they drop to, say, $2.99, I buy the ebook as well— which is great when I’m on my way home and stopping by Trader Joe’s for ingredients. And I can enlarge the type size, as mentioned. But I do love reading a good cookbook like a novel, especially before bed— and the beauty of a well-designed layout (former high-school yearbook editor here) is usually lost in the ebook format, which is where print really shines. If a book I’d like to buy has faint, grey type or a wacky font that is hard to read or just jarring, I’ll get the ebook without the print copy.

  • boncie  on  January 18, 2025

    I love my physical cookbooks and I have about 1500 of them. But I have no more available shelf space. I tend to buy older physical books and Kindle for newer books and of course those 99p books are brilliant! I love the portability of e books and being able to make the font larger. Let’s face it, they both have advantages and disadvantages and I love them both.

Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!

Categories

Archives