When the temperature drops and the leaves turn brilliant, it’s time to curl up with a good book and a tasty treat–and the Libraries can help you with both! The Libraries’ collections contain an unexpected treasure trove of cookbooks and food writing, something for every palate.

For the home baker, check out How to be a Domestic Goddess, the utterly charming first cookbook by Nigella Lawson, now a judge on the current season of The Great British Bake-Off. If you’re off gluten but still want to turn on the oven, you can borrow Baked to Perfection: Delicious Gluten-Free Recipes with a Pinch of Science, available from Bryn Mawr. Need something more savory and filling? It’s officially soup season, so take a look at The Soup Club Cookbook; you can load your soups with nourishing veggies from the Our Food Garden Harvest Giveaways. And if your diet is entirely plant-based, The Student’s Go Vegan Cookbook has you covered. Of course, Swatties’ eating habits have always been diverse. For proof, flip through Cooking with us : food and memories from the Swarthmore College class of '76.

All books from the stacks are available to borrow and use (try your best to avoid grease stains on the pages). But Special Collections has some tasty surprises too. Alison Ryland ‘14 created this guide to manuscript recipes in Friends Historical Library. Two standouts are "Eve's Pudding," [transcription PDF] circa 1860 (MSS 002/192, McCollin Album) and, if you’re over 21, "Receit for a beer" [Recipe for beer : transcription PDF], circa 1790, (RG5/173, Collins Family Papers). 

There are recipes in the College Archives too, including this one for a chocolate fudge cake, printed on page 4 of the February 1913 edition of the now defunct student organization’s publication The Triangle. A repost is not an endorsement, though: page 2 of the following month’s issue had a harsh critique of the recipe, the early 20th-century version of the comments on a cooking blog. The Peace Collection contains community cookbooks assembled by pacifist groups, an item often used in fundraising, and two from the War Resisters League have been fully digitized: The Peaceful Palate and Nourishing the Nonviolent Revolution: Zestful Vegetarian Recipes. There’s also plenty of food in the Rare Book Room, not literally but literarily. Consider Bon Bon Mots by Julie Chen, Sir Thomas'more, or Utopia Impaled by Angela Lorenz, and, in time for pumpkin spice season, Karen Koshgarian’s Lotta Lattes. Special Collections materials can all be viewed and handled–if not tasted–by making an appointment in the Reading Room.

Cookbooks and food writing from the circulating collection will be on view and available to borrow at the Apple Pie Baking Competition, November 19, 4:30-6pm in the DCC’s Kemp Family Commons, so you can browse recipes while waiting for your turn to sample that classic autumn dessert. And if you happen to bring a slice of pie, or any seasonal treat, into McCabe, enjoy it with a nice hot tea in a cup from our mug library, located in the LibLab kitchen.