What's the point of cookbooks?

I simply like cookbooks - especially those with pictures of the finished product. It gives me something to shoot for! (Seriously, I NEED those pictures.)

I buy cookbooks for the pictures, no joke. I don't get a cookbook if it doesn't have pictures. And most of the time I look through it just for fun. It's also good if I have no idea what I want. Going online only works if you have something specific in mind.

I came to this conclusion when my grandmother left me 19 full sized refridgerator boxes full of cook books. She would buy one because it had a good recipe in it, and then buy another because it had ONE good recipe in it. I eventually just took out the recipes i wanted and either donated the books or tossed them in the recycle bin. Also, some of the old fashioned recipes you can't find on the internet, and it's amusing to see how old timers did the things we can do today with machines.

I think to just read a cookbook trains your mind in the basics of cooking. Once you have read different ways of doing things you develop a style of your own and may even create new recipes. This is my experience anyhow.

What seems more appealing?

Consulting sheets of paper that were spit out by your printer while trying to manage a meal in progress?...Or being able to refer to a trusty tome of delectable dishes right at your finger tips?

The print outs might be convenient,but if you run into a culinary term that you're not familiar with nothing beats a cook-book! Just check the glossary! No need to run to the computer and google "saute","sear",or "tbsp".It's all there in your handy-dandy cookbook!

Yes, you're right. I used to LOVE my cookbooks, and even now I cannot get myself to throw them out. But they are definitely outmoded these days with the resources on the internet. It's kind of a nice tradition, though, and sometimes I enjoy just paging through them.

I like to read through recipe books for inspiration. Sometimes I find a recipe that I can adapt to my tastes etc.

The internet isn't so good if you don't really know what you want to cook.

My wife is the same way but remember, most of us were cooking long before we had the internet to look up our recipes

yes, i hardly ever use my cookbooks anymore because of the internet.

however, the fannie farmer cookbook teaches how to cook very well and so is a good resource, especially for beginners.

Recipes on internet always change and it would be hard to look the same one up.