About Domestic Economy

Domestic Economy is a modern community cookbook project started in 2010.

Community cookbooks initially served as a way to raise money for the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Civil War. Gathering recipes from members of church and women’s associations, these cookbooks aren’t authorities on how to cook: the recipes don’t tell you what order to add ingredients in, what temperature to bake at, or how long you will need to let your dough rise. Often, they repeat themselves, with nine different recipes for apple pie, each submitted by a different person. But it is exactly these peculiarities that make the cookbooks interesting. The values of contributors–thrift, efficiency, and pragmatism–are reflected in their time-saving tips, frugal ingredients, and cost-effective use of paper.

Domestic Economy isn’t out to find the best recipe for hollandaise sauce or the most precise rules for homemade pizza dough. This isn’t simply a crowd-sourced cookbook or a collection of recipes. There are other websites for authoritative advice on cooking (many of which are listed in the Links section here).

We want to know your thoughts about food, your stories, and your memories. What you’ll see here: Recipes, of course, as well as photos, essays, poems, fiction, and songs about food. Excerpts from historical culinary works. Mix tapes (digital, of course). The occasional food news-related blog post.

All proceeds will benefit City Harvest.

  • do·mes·tic [də-ˈmes-tik]: of or relating to the household or the family; devoted to home duties and pleasures. Middle English, from Middle French domestique, from Latin domesticus, from domus.
  • econ·o·my [i-ˈkä-nə-mē]: archaic: the management of household or private affairs and especially expenses; thrifty and efficient use of material resources; frugality in expenditures. Middle French yconomie, from Medieval Latin oeconomia, from Greek oikonomia, from oikonomos household manager, from oikos house + nemein to manage.