7 Hudson Valley Libraries With a Major Focus on Food

Briarcliff Manor Public Library

Passionate about both reading and cooking, volunteer Andrea Vladimir kicked off the Cookbook Club to encourage residents to use the library in a different way. She envisioned a salon-like feel to discuss cooking “like Hemingway talking about writing.” Participants have enjoyed cheese tastings and squash making, sessions in knife skills, and a Japanese tea ceremony. “To have a group that is really engaged with the idea of cooking and bringing something in and sharing how they made it…it’s like an arts and crafts class,” Vladimir says. “It’s part artist in us, part reader.”

Subscribing to the notion that food is a “universal connector,” librarian Amy Berger kicked off the Spice Club at this facility. Each month, the front desk offers samples of a spice that patrons can take home and play around with in their kitchens. Home cooks are then invited back to the library for a monthly potluck dinner to share dishes they created with the spice.

At this Dutchess County book base, the Eat Between the Lines club exposes card-carrying patrons to local food businesses and experiences, like cider tastings from nearby orchards and maple syrup sampling (upcoming) from hometown producer Crown Maple. In addition, club participants gather regularly to prepare recipes from a cookbook to share and discuss.

Gathering monthly, the Cookbook Club centers around either a recipe tome chosen by a librarian or a member-selected theme. The group then meets at lunchtime to taste and discuss dishes they’ve cooked up at home. Members learn from each other while “enjoying each other and good food,” says library assistant Clarisa Rosario-Degroate, which is the definition of a great lunch date.

Operating with the philosophy that cookbooks are their own literary genre, librarian Karen Golding says meetings of the Cookbook Club are akin to “a family meal.” Lively chatter centers around each month’s chosen book, with attendees homing in on a particular theme or talking about tweaks they made to a recipe. Every so often, the group embarks on a food-focused field trip; the next one is a return visit to the Culinary Institute of America.

Members of the Roe Jan Cookbook Club get together every month to choose recipes and share dishes they’ve made for an elevated afternoon community meal—served on fine china and pretty tablecloths. Volunteer organizer Rita Jakubowski says that little extra fuss makes participants feel like they’re “at a real dinner table in their own home.” Guest speakers are a regular thing, and have included Hudson Valley chefs and cookbook authors, local social media food influencers, and judges from The Food Network.

Once a month, the Food Lit & Cookbook Club convenes to choose and discuss a book on topics ranging from politics and policy to memoirs, fiction, and mysteries—all focused on food. Director Lorraine Rothman says food, which everyone can relate to, is the jumping off point for the sharing and swapping of held-close stories. “The interaction takes on a meaning beyond just talking about the food,” she notes, “really connecting my neighbors and my community.” And sometimes, props are involved: When the group convened over the bestseller Cork Dork, they got up close and personal with the aroma kits sommeliers use to train their noses.

Let’s Go Clubbing

A lover of food and community, Chef Lenny Sutton has a knack for whipping up library foodie clubs (he’s had his fingers in the pie at Pine Plains Free Library, Rhinebeck’s Starr Library, and Stanford Library’s Supper Club), and he maintains a central info spot for six area clubs, plus tips on how to start a new one. Visit cookbookclubs.org to see what he’s got on the back burner.

Related: Visit These Hudson Valley Sites to Celebrate Women’s History