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In Praise of Campy Cookbooks

Amid the lamé and leopard print, they offer some clever and contemporary ideas.

Published September 18, 2025

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Tucker Shaw

My favorite Saturday afternoons involve a visit to my local used books vendor to browse the vintage cookbooks section. What am I looking for? Not culinary instruction, per se. I’ve got plenty of books for that at home already. No, I’m looking for stories. For perspective. For a tether to the old days. I want a sense of how people cooked and ate and wrote about food in days gone by. I want inspiration. Connection. Style. Humor. I want vibes. 

One of the most vibe-filled subcategories of vintage cookbooks is one that I guess I’ll call “Society Ladies’ Entertainment Manuals.” It’s a rich vein filled with fabled names, like Emily Post, Ilka Chase, Florence Kerr Hirschfeld. They appear out of the mists of history, sparkling like tiaras despite years languishing in dusty attics, promising to rescue us all from the doldrums of drab dinner parties. 

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