On Friday, April 1 we held the P. H. Welshimer Memorial Library’s First Annual Edible Books Festival. This event was first conceived by Judith A. Hoffberg and Beatrice Coron in 2000, and has gone on to become an international celebration. I first participated while a library science student at the University of Pittsburgh in 2009. This year, when the library blogs started buzzing, I asked Mary Jackson if she’d be interested (as baking + books are right up both of our alleys.)
Hoffberg and Coron had planned the International Edible Book Festival to take place around April 1, the birthday of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, so we set the date. It fell at the end of a busy week, and we weren’t sure what kind of turnout we would have. But the Milligan community exceeded our hopes!
We had twelve entries, from staff, faculty, and students. Some were punny, some witty, some painstaking, and all delicious. (And as librarians, our favorite part was that each of the books represented was already held in the Library’s collection.) After lunch, we cut the cakes, and by closing at 5 had only scraps left. We’ve since had tons of positive feedback, and some great ideas for making this an even better event next year! Many thanks to all of you who participated, and to all who stopped by to look and eat.
I’ve attached Gary Daught’s photos here, but do see also Tiffany Weinbender’s great post at The Kitchen Curtains, a report on StampedeTV, and the Johnson City Press’s photo gallery!
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