Residents encouraged to share recipes for “Birmingham Family Memories Cook Book”

BIRMINGHAM — By the end of 2026 or early 2027, there will be a free permanent flipbook composed of family recipes submitted by Birmingham residents.

The Birmingham Museum has been collecting family recipes from the community — whether it is the weeknight go-to for your family or a recipe that goes back generations. The title of the book will be the “Birmingham Family Memories Cook Book.”

This cookbook is being created as Birmingham celebrates America’s 250th anniversary this year. It also marks the 100th anniversary of a cookbook that was published in Birmingham in 1926.

Museum Specialist Caitlin Donnelly said, “Everybody eats and that is one thing that has kind of united us across those 250th years.

Donnelly said they have about a dozen submissions currently and they still have room for many more.

As for the timeline of the project, they are currently collecting submissions from recipes and hope to have the book available online by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, according to Donnelly.

In addition to the resident submissions, they plan to include some local historical recipes, such as recipes from Martha Durkee Blakeslee from the late 1800s.

“We do have a lot of historical cookbooks that were published by organizations in Birmingham, like the Birmingham Village Players published one in 1971 so we have some amazing 1970s recipes,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly said people can consider it, “leaving their own mark on history, because this is going to be a cookbook that is going to go into our archives. So 100 years from now, someone can look back and look at what folks in Birmingham were eating at the time, what recipes were super important to them and their family, and that is just such a cool way to connect with people.

Museum Specialist and Archivist Donna Casaceli was recently at the Birmingham Farmers Market, sharing the project with the community. She said everyone she talked to seemed excited about being able to contribute their favorite recipes.

“It is going to be free. So, anybody can access it, look over it and learn a little bit about Birmingham history and learn a little bit about people in their neighborhood today,” Casaceli said.

Alongside recipes, the community can send in photos of the food and their family.

Staff from the museum will be at the farmers market on July 5 to collect feedback about the project and hand out forms for the community to fill out with their recipes. Forms can also be found online at bhamgov.org and recipes can be submitted online at engage.bhamgov.org/birmingham-recipes.