Cookbook

The Bethlehem Food Co-Op is producing a cookbook to raise funds and community awareness before we open our doors. The cookbook will reflect all of the things that will make our co-op awesome. Here is a little explanation for how our cookbook will align with these best features to be one of the best cookbooks you’ll ever own. Take a look, and if you are interested in submitting a recipe, scroll all the way down for details!

• Community Owned & Operated: Our cookbook will be by our community and for our community! This book will be written, tested, edited, designed, and published by the people who the co-op will serve. We also want each recipe to feature a personal note by its author, talking about the recipe’s origin, a handy cooking tip, or why he or she can’t wait for the co-op to open. So, this book will help our community learn about each other.
• Conveniently in Downtown Bethlehem (Local): Like the co-op will when it opens, the cookbook will focus on locally available ingredients. Think more than just veggies, here! Many types of quality meat and dairy are raised and produced in our valley (even bison!). Specialty recipes that are unique to our town will also be included (we know someone out there has an amazing Moravian Sugar Cake recipe begging to be made with locally farmed potatoes!). There are some really amazing tastes in this area, and our book will reflect that. (Of course, if a recipe calls for a lemon, which doesn’t grow here, that’s okay! The co-op will responsibly source some of those non-local items, too, so that our shoppers can purchase all their weekly groceries from our store.)
• Healthy Food: When the co-op opens, it will emphasize healthy foods and educate our neighbors about healthy choices. So, expect to find nutritious twists on decadent favorites, recipes that are perfect for special diets like vegan or gluten free, unique salads, and other healthy favorites. And, we recognize that part of a healthy diet is to indulge every once in a while, so we’ll include some sweet treats, too!
• Affordable Food: One of the goals of the co-op is to provide affordable food to areas in our community that don’t have access to fresh ingredients right now. Through member discounts, direct vendor relationships, and cost-saving features like bulk bins, prices will be kept within reach of our customers budgets. Our cookbook’s recipes will reflect this principle, including ingredients that are commonly purchased from bulk bins and simple, inexpensive ingredients that combine for million dollar flavor. Sorry, gourmets, this isn’t where you’ll find the recipe to use up your truffle shavings or foie gras!
• Informational Workshops: The co-op will not just be a grocery store, and this book will not just be a collection of recipes. We’ll scatter helpful tips and facts throughout, and there will be a valuable section with information about cooperatives, local food, and cooking basics.

We are looking for original (if based on another recipe, at least 3 significant changes must have been made) and family recipes from members of the community to include in the book. If you have a great original recipe, you can submit it by filling out this form. Each recipe will be tested by co-op members for clarity, accuracy, and taste before being added to the book. Please share the form with any fellow foodies in the Lehigh Valley. Multiple submissions are welcome, but please limit yourself to your five best recipes.

If you are a restaurateur, chef, business owner, farmer, or other individual who would like to sponsor a recipe, please contact us for more information on the sponsorship packages available.

We are so excited for this cookbook to be one of the first tangible representations of the great things to come from the Bethlehem Food Co-Op, and we can’t wait to see the great recipes our neighbors submit!