How many is too many?

I have roughly 500 cookbooks. My records actually show only 503 catalogued - more on that later - but I assume there are some stragglers here and there. 

Now, this doesn’t include food-related books - memoirs, general musings, entertainment books, etc. Or even my collection of vintage Gourmet magazines which I think I may finally be ready to let go…

I often think about why I hold on to so many. I will never in my life be able to really use every single one of these cookbooks. Over the past year I have really taken stock of what I own, why I own it, and whether it’s “serving me” so to speak. Before I wrote this I pulled a stack of 20 or so from my shelves to donate. Progress! 

Reasons I have these books, or the importance I imbue upon these inanimate objects:

• I’ve inherited them. And as such, I am the protector of them? 
• I thought they were interesting, weird, funny. And I am nothing if not a collector of treasures. 
• Gifts! I used to get cookbooks SO frequently as gifts. This has significantly slowed down as I have told those around me to only get me a specific cookbooks or if they think I’ll really love it. 
• A souvenir from a trip. This was my go to, but again, I’ve really dialed back this reflex. I set myself some criteria: Is it regional? Is it thrifted? Will I actually use it? 
• Because I like the author/cook and *needed* to have it. This is a small collection of a half a dozen or so authors. However, I find myself reaching for these most frequently to actually use: Claire Saffitz, Nigella Lawson, Erin Jeanne McDowell, Molly Yeh, Americas Test Kitchen. 

Now, I catalogue them using a basic airtable sheet. I imagine I get this need to put my collection into a database from my father. The man lives and dies by FileMakerPro. So far I keep it pretty basic: 

• Title
• Author (or sometimes just publisher)
• Date of publication
• Was it a gift, purchase, inheritance, or did I win it. 
• I also have some demographic information I try to guess at
• And a general category of contents/purpose

In the coming year, in an effort to use what I have, my goal is to try to cook from a cookbook once a week at least. We’ll see how it goes and how frequently I actually document it.