Itinerant Cookbook Project updates

The Itinerant Cookbook Project has started almost a year ago this month and I find it very interesting to see where all the 10 Itinerant Cookbooks traveled in 12 months.

As a reminder, the Itinerant Cookbook Project tracks 10 cookbooks as they travel around the world. In May 2009, we released 10 cookbooks to 10 local home chefs in Tampa Bay, FL. We encouraged them to make a recipe and pass the book along to a friend, wherever that friend lives, who in turn does the same to keep the project going. We ask every generation of home chef to email us before making the recipe, and after. We then track the cookbooks with Google maps as they travel across the planet.

The goal is for every cookbook to travel from hand to hand, kitchen to kitchen, city to city, continent to continent, with all “traveling” being recorded and documented.

A year later, the 10 original cookbooks took very different paths from each other. 2 of them have never left Tampa Bay. Interestingly enough, they were originally handed over to two of my friends who happened to be very busy food editors for large local newspapers. I’m not that kind of guy so I won’t tell who they are. I don’t care if you torture me or not; I will NOT spill the beans. Ok. Fine. If you insist, they are Janet Keeler of the St Petersburg Times and Jeff Houck of the Tampa Tribune. They are otherwise extremely competent at what they do (write about food) but hey, I encourage you to write them and give them a (little) hard time. I already warned them I will give them a hard time. But I digress.

So yeah, 2 cookbooks never left Tampa Bay. A couple others took a route and then stalled. That is the case for “Baking Unplugged” (now in California), “The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh” (Now in Michigan) and “Big Green Cookbook” (now in New Jersey). I am expecting to jumpstart their journey again and they will likely move along to other destinations very soon.

The “Wings” cookbook is a more well-traveled little thing. It started in Largo, FL, then went to Madeira Beach, FL, then seemed to gravitate in the Southern United States: Brandon, MS, Columbus, GA in 2 households, and is now in Slidell, Louisiana.

And then there are the heavy travelers. “Burger Bar” sneaked out of the country and went on to educate the French on the All American delicacy. From Nice, France to Bar-sur-loup, France, it stayed in the south of France for a while then went off to Exeter, England where it remains at the date of writing.
The “Helen’s Asian Kitchen” traveled from Tampa to Ontario and is currently there in Canada.
The “California Pizza Kitchen Family Cookbook” is probably the most traveled of all. It went to Gainesville, FL, then Amsterdam, Netherlands and then to Tokyo, Japan. We’re trying to track it down now but it looks like it may be back to Europe in London, UK. More on that later.

You can follow all the cookbooks with Google Maps. Click on the interactive map below to have access to all the cookbooks and their location.
View Itinerant Cookbook Project in a larger map

What is this blog about? Read the first post here.

You can check out and buy all itinerant cookbooks by clicking here.

Where are the Itinerant Cookbooks now?

View Itinerant Cookbook Project in a larger map

Here are the Itinerant Cookbooks:

Started in Tampa, FL with Margaret. Was in Tampa, FL with Noel, in Mt Elgin, Ontario with Rosemary. Now in York, Ontario, with Janice.

Started in Brandon, FL with Dave. Traveled to Flagstaff, AZ and back to Brandon, FL with Dave.

Started in Nice, France with Marc-Antoine. Was in Bar-sur-loup with Faye. Now in Exeter, UK with Judie.

Started in St Petersburg, FL with Janet. Now in St Petersburg, FL with Janet.

Started in Dunedin, FL with Janis. Traveled to Chicago. Now in San Francisco, CA with Liz.

Started in Gainesville, FL with Esther. Traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Now in Tokyo, Japan with Martin. Was supposed to leave Japan for London, UK but didn’t. Instead book got lost and found. So still in Japan.

Started in Plant City with Lynne. Traveled to Ann Arbor, MI with Horace.

Started in Largo, FL with Marty. Was in Madeira Beach, FL with Carol, in Brandon, Mississipi with Sharon. Now in Sliddel, Louisiana.

Started in Brandon, FL with Debbie. Now in Tampa, FL with Jeff.

Started in Dunedin with Bob. Traveled to Chicago with Bob. Now in NY with Dan.

Thank you to our book sponsor, Wiley. Please check their website here.