Foodies and home cooks can have a field day perusing the online catalog of cookbooks available from Friends of the Library of Hawaii, not just for recipes but nostalgic glimpses into different circles of community life.
It seems every group in Hawaii, from the Koko Head Elementary School A+ program to the Junior League to the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin has put out a cookbook at one time or another.
“The local cookbooks sell very quickly,” said executive director Nainoa Mau. “People are looking for family recipes.”
These community cookbooks usually are published in small quantities by churches, clubs and organizations, which make them hard to find. Most are inexpensively bound with plastic spines and covers, illustrated by hand, and average just $3 to $5. In fact, everything for sale by the Friends goes for a mere fraction of the cover price, and less than at other second-hand sources.
Normally, most of these books would find new homes through the Friends’ annual book sale, a colossal fundraiser usually held over 11 days in June at McKinley High School. The sale was canceled this year due to COVID-19. That means 150,000 items (including CDs and vinyl records) are still taking up space at the Friends’ Halawa warehouse.
But the books are all still available to the public via the nonprofit’s website, he said. More than 26,000 titles of all genres have been uploaded to the site, with lots more added every day.
“We have tons of great stuff here,” said Mau, standing among rows of shelves and boxes of books piled halfway to the ceiling at the warehouse. And frankly, he and his volunteers are getting a bit anxious. “We’re packed to the gills,” and every day more book donations pile up.
They need to move a lot of merchandise, or he and his staff of volunteers soon won’t be able to walk in between the rows.
Cookbooks in general are the most popular of all genres with 10 categories, from Asian to holiday, from baking and desserts to beverages.
“There was panic in the beginning,” Pat Oshiro, a four-year volunteer, said. People were coming every 15 minutes for weeks to drop off books after the first stay-at-home order ended in June. The warehouse was closed during that shutdown, a period many people seem to have spent culling their bookshelves. “All the cleaning they did came over here!” Oshiro said.
Mau’s 75 regular volunteer helpers are trying to sort, price and post books online, and get them ready for pickup as fast as possible. “The volunteers are so amazing, so dedicated,” he said. “Some come daily.”
Yet only 10 volunteers, about half the usual number, are allowed into the warehouse at a time, due to coronavirus precautions. “It’s like operating an Amazon with manual labor,” he joked, with Oshiro adding, “No robots.”
Oshiro, a retired social worker and administrator, said she’s loved going to the library since she was a kid on Molokai, so she revels in being surrounded by books three days a week.
Although her favorite books are mysteries, she’s been in charge of the cookbook section the last three years. Still, if a book with an unusual title or subject catches her eye, she’ll take a few minutes to thumb through it.
“I also like looking at recipes and cookbooks for different cultures and will sometimes make something inspired by a new discovery,” she added.
“At the big book sales, I saw many people crowded around the local cookbook section looking at the recipes, page by page. Some are excited when they see these books and will buy five to 10 of these books.” Oshiro said.
Very popular are collections issued by the Honpa Hongwanji and major organizations like Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Electric. While there are plenty of books by well-known chefs and food columnists, selections also include small publications like the “Noelani Class of 1991 Cookbook” or the “Unbearably Good! Mochi Lovers’ Cookbook” from 1999.
“Cooking with Sadie and Friends,” by the Hawaii Canines for Independence from 2007, is a typical conglomeration of favorite recipes with local, mainland, multi-ethnic influences, including dishes (for humans) like Makena Hash Browns, Peggy’s Party Punch, Fast-Kine Chinese Chicken Salad and Mike’s Leg of Lamb. And (surprise!) it also includes a recipe for dog treats.
Vintage treasures include the “Hawaiian Cook Book” by Helen Alexander, published in 1938, although that sold quickly, even at a higher price of $9. It offered recipes for haupia, smoked fish and breadfruit poi, with black-and-white illustrations.
Mau said the books for sale online are all in acceptable, if not good, condition.
“The funds we raise support all 51 public libraries and their programming,” Mau said of his 140-year-old nonprofit. It pays for librarian training, technical upgrades and offerings such as author presentations and the Summer Reading Program.
But the Friends’ revenue has been severely reduced with the cancellation of the McKinley book sale, its biggest fundraiser, and two other regular sales, in November and January, are also unlikely to be held.
Still, the Friends’ are scheduled to move into a bigger warehouse in Iwilei by the end of the year. Mau is looking forward to having more space in the 11,750- square-foot building (the Halawa site has just under 8,000 square feet). The new location next to the Iwilei Costco will be much more convenient for donors to drop off books, pick up orders and for Friends volunteers to commute, he added.
Rare deals
Since 2012 Friends of the Library has opened some of its inventory to global access via Amazon.com, selling about 3,000 books through the online retailer so far.
The Friends earn about 70% of all sales.
To browse these titles, go to 808ne.ws/librarybooks (some of the prices might surprise you).
A sample of what’s available now:
>> “Hinode Rice Cookbook,” published for Territorial Savings’ 70th anniversary in 1992, going for $39.50
>> “The When You Live in Hawaii You Get Very Creative During Passover Cookbook,” released by Congregation Sof Ma’arav in 1989, $65
>> “Cooking With Hari and Muriel,” from 1994, by Hari Kojima and Muriel Miura, $34
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
>> Warehouse: 99-1132 Iwaena St.; 536-4174
>> Online sales: Visit friendsofthelibraryofhawaii.org; click on “Online Bookstore.” Curbside pickup.
>> To donate books: Call for an appointment. Books are accepted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays.
>> Also: Manoa Public Library holds pickups and dropoffs on Thursdays.
