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Date: 10/22/2020
WESTFIELD – After the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the Westfield Athenaeum’s Cookbook Club’s in-person meetings, the Athenaeum launched its online Light Lunch Cookbook Club on Oct. 13.
Becky Blackburn, the public services librarian and organizer of the cookbook club, said that ever since the pandemic began, she has been looking for a way to continue a similar program.
“I have been thinking about how to replace that program with something and since it has to be over Zoom, and it’s cooking, it took me a while to figure out,” she said.
She added that some of the participants wanted a program to focus on healthier meals after gaining weight during the pandemic.
“Everyone was like, ‘Man I just gained so much weight over quarantine,’ so I started thinking about that. There’s always a ton of cookbooks that come out every year on health and fitness. So, I thought we should try to explore some different, healthy-focused cookbooks,” Blackburn said.
Under the new format, members of the cookbook club make recipes on their own time ahead of the monthly meeting, which takes place at noon on the second Tuesday of each month via Zoom.
“We try the cookbook out and we come together and talk about what we made, what we liked, what we did not like, and just talked about our habits and how to maintain them,” Blackburn said.
For the first cookbook, Blackburn said participants made recipes from the “Damn Delicious” meal prep book.
“We used a book called ‘Damn Delicious,’ which is a meal planning-focused cookbook. So, we also talked about meal planning, menu planning, and how that helps with our diets and maintaining our weights and healthy habits,” she said.
Blackburn said for the November meeting, the next cookbook is all about low calorie meals.
“Our next cookbook for November is called ‘Skinny Taste: Fast and Slow’ and these are a lot of lower calorie meals, a lot of quick fix, and a lot of slow-cooker recipes,” she said.
For the first meeting, Blackburn said she was happy with the turnout.
“I would say it wasn’t bad for the first time, especially during the day on a Tuesday. We had five people, which is pretty good,” she said.
Residents interested in joining the cookbook club can sign up on the Athenaeum’s website to receive a Zoom link from Blackburn the day of each meeting.