It’s no secret that I have some German in my blood. What gave it away…my last name? Well, I like to bask in my German heritage which sometimes leads me on scavenger hunts for Germanesque stuff and junk—which often end up as props on set.

I ran across this beautiful old (1917 to be exact) handwritten cookbook and I couldn’t resist. The cover title “Koch Recepte” literally means “Boiling Prescriptions.” I’m not sure where to go with that…was boiling a popular craze in the early 1900’s or is it just an odd German to English translation?

The penmanship in this book is wonderful and I fell in love with the well-used and aged pages. Apparently there were two or three contributors to the writing in the book based on the different handwriting styles. I’d like to think it was a sweet old couple who enjoyed cooking (or boiling) together and trying new recipes. Can you image what life was like before the AllRecipes.com app?

So, what’s a food photographer gonna do with this neat old cookbook? Setup a still life or two, of course.

Most recently a page from this book found its way into a shoot we did just last week for an editorial client, but those images won’t be public for another eleven months though, so feel free to check back with me then.

Glücklich kochendem,

- Kyle