Off the Shelf: All Butter and Creme Filled at the Swampscott Library

This article was submitted by Director Alyce Deveau.

It is amazing to me that some books do go off the shelf at the library. Take for instance cookbooks, which are ever-popular. We have a huge cookbook section and we are constantly purchasing new additions to this collection. The fact that these get checked out isn’t what amazes me, it is the type of book that gets checked out. We live in a very health-conscious society today with everyone watching their sugar, their carbs or the bottom line, their weight. Despite this, three books are going off the shelf at the library that defy these interests.

The first book is entitled Sugar, Sugar: Every Recipe Has a Story by Kimberly “Momma” Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero.  Sugar, Sugar’s authors Reiner and Sanz-Agero, are on a mission to preserve America's best sweet treat recipes and the stories behind them. What these ladies found was that, each recipe conveys the unique personality of the friend or family member who created it. Sugar, Sugar does have some great recipes and some fun stories behind these recipes. For instance there is the story of the mother who baked a Red Velvet birthday cake for one of her children who was particularly good that year or a devil's food for a child who didn’t behave at their best or another funny story of “El’s Butterscotch Pie." When the authors were investigating the background of this butterscotch pie made by grandmother Eleanor Hutchison, most of the grandchildren thought that this pie was called “ Scotch” pie because their uncle John drank Scotch. The recipes are really tempting, not exactly for the calorie conscious, but the entire book is an interesting approach to sharing recipes.

The next title is Paula Dean’s Southern Cooking Bible. Of course the truth is out about Paula and her Type 2 diabetes so I’m not sure how many more people will be aspiring to cook Paula’s delicious “Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy” or her “Cream Cheese –Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding." To quote Paula on the jacket, “I’ve been cooking and eating Southern food my whole life, and I can tell you that every meal you make from this book will be a mouthful of our one of a kind spirit and traditions." What she doesn’t go on to tell you is that each of these recipes could be increasing your high cholesterol or adding unnecessary weight to your body.            

The last title going off the shelf is Rosie’s Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar Packed Baking Book by Judy Rosenberg. I feel that I gained 5 lbs by just typing the title. The author is the owner of the Boston areas Rosie’s Bakery chain. Once again these recipes are not for the weight conscious library patron. It throws moderation out the window and lots of real butter, real cream, and real chocolate into our diet. This book won the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award. There is no denying the end result of these recipes is delectable, the only question I ask is how many miles one must run to work off all of the calories. 

These are just a few titles that are going “off the shelf” at the Swampscott library.