I am moving house in a few weeks. One of the most challenging tasks has been the books. Even after serious culling there are still several hundred. I very briefly contemplated donating my food library to some institution—for about five minutes that is… Maybe later, after my death. But I wonder if anyone will want it, or will the digitisation of information have made a collection of much-thumbed, post-it noted, out-of-print, sometimes stained cookery books of little value to anyone?

It is not uncommon to hear people expound on how pointless cookery books are now that we have the Internet overflowing with information, universally available and free of charge. The internet is great for a quick fact-check (although it is very likely that there will be conflicting information), but it can never entrance me and keep me reading on and on, as I do when I browse a favourite book or make a new discovery.