Hello and welcome to The Kitchen Bookshelf
I’m Angela - it’s lovely to meet you. I’m an award-winning writer with 3 cookbooks (so far….). of my own on my kitchen bookshelf. I am passionate about all things food and food writing, cooking and cookbooks.
For over 7 years I hosted the hugely popular and beloved Borough Market Cookbook Club. The Kitchen Bookshelf is in some ways a reboot of that one. It’s a digital cookbook club for anyone who loves cooking and cookbooks. It is a place to discover new (and old) cookbooks, share what we think about cookbooks, and generally indulge in all the reasons why we love cookbooks: for the pleasure and insight (and, of course, the deliciousness) they can bring.
There will be cookbook reviews; community chats for subscribers to share cookbook opinions; events; conversations with cookbook authors; and insights into how cookbooks get made.
The Cookbook Club is the main strand of The Kitchen Bookshelf, with three other sections working under the same umbrella - all with cookbooks and and food writing at their heart:
In Seasoning: where I share insights into my latest cookbook, Seasoning - How To Cook and Celebrate the Seasons. I’ll be taking you behind a recipe, or a produce profile or image in the book.
Mentoring: the home for my work in helping food writers nurture their cookbooks from idea to publication. With features giving my take on what it takes to write a cookbook.
New writing / recipes: where I’ll be putting new food writing features and recipes from me.
Why subscribe?
Free subscribers will receive a regular newsletter each Friday with updates on all aspects of The Kitchen Bookshelf. It will also include info on anything else I’ve been up to which is cookbook related and therefore likely to be of interest.
Free subscribers will be able to read a preview of the features within the Cookbook Club, In Seasoning, Mentoring and New writing / recipes sections.
Free subscribers can read a limited amount of cookbook club content but are not able to read my notes about the books we choose to be part of The Kitchen Bookshelf cookbook club each month, take part in events, or be part of the conversations yourself. For that you will need to become a paid subscriber….
Paid subscribers
ONLY paid subscribers will be able to actually take part in The Kitchen Bookshelf cookbook club, read the cookbook reviews, join in with the community cookbook conversations, attend events and more. As a paid subscriber you become part of The Kitchen Bookshelf book club and gain access to:
our monthly The Kitchen Bookshelf theme and cookbook pick for the community to cook from and share thoughts on, with my roundup review on what I think makes it worth being on The Kitchen Bookshelf.
live The Kitchen Bookshelf digital, and in person, events. (Note that in person events will be costed additionally.)
interviews / events with cookbook authors and cookbook makers.
the latest cookbook releases that I think it’s worth keeping an eye out for.
comments area to share opinions on The Kitchen Bookshelf book choices.
community conversations where you can share wider opinions on cooking and cookbooks.
Paid subscribers receive the Friday updating newsletter.
Plus: Once a week paid subscribers will receive a feature I’ve written on one of the sections of The Kitchen Bookshelf. That will switch between being a Cookbook Club feature (perhaps a cookbook review, or something about that month’s cookbook club theme / books); or something that relates to In Seasoning, Mentoring or New writing / recipes.
Remember you can at any time change in your settings how you read / receive the different sections of The Kitchen Bookshelf.
You can become a paid subscriber in 3 ways:
Monthly for £6 - which if you do it for 12 months works out as £1.38 each week
Yearly for £54 - so that’s 12 months for the bargain price of 9…. and barely pennies over a pound each week
As a Founding Member which allows you to pay any amount you would like to above the yearly subscription, and in doing so support more closely the work that goes into building this community.
What we expect from the The Kitchen Bookshelf community
Members of this community are expected to treat this space and each other with respect. We don't always have to agree with each other - but whether we do or we don’t, let’s do it with gentleness. This is a place of open and honest opinions and that can be done respectfully. We reserve the right to remove anyone we consider to have behaved disrespectfully, aggressively or abusively here.
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
