One staple of many country kitchens, both traditional and contemporary, are cookbooks. Tattered and dusty with flour, new and shiny with promise, passed along or thrifted, the cookbooks in our kitchens reflect our histories and predict our futures in cooking.

In 1796, the elusive Amelia Simmons published “American Cookery” widely considered to be the first published cookbook and thus signaling our modern history with the printed recipe. Many companies began to see how recipes could help market their goods and printed them on cans, whipped topping lids, backs of boxes of pudding and gelatin, flour bags, etc. Recipes developed by enterprising Cooks during times of shortages and strife helped shape the story of modern recipe development.

In the spirit of keeping (and shaping) our unique kitchen history, the Harbor District Market is creating a cookbook and we need our community’s valuable help! Please submit a recipe using the submission form below, email bspain@whda.org or drop them by the Harbor District Market during business hours. Specifically, we are looking for historical recipes (most especially from people and restaurants no longer with us), recipes made with local seafood, meat and produce, preservation/canning and of course, meaningful to you.

Sections will look slightly different than conventional cookbooks as we will include any historical information we can verify. If we use your recipe, we will cite your contribution and may contact you with questions, so make sure to include all contact info.

We hope to have the fundraising cookbook ready before the kickoff of 2022 holiday season!