The Secret Ingredients Family Cookbook Story, Part Two

Eureka!

As I mentioned yesterday, I was exploring the world of e-commerce and graphic design in tech school when my handmade family cookbooks started taking off. One day I was sitting in school when I realized, “Hey, I can marry my two favorite things in life- the Internet and family cookbooks!”

Family Cookbooks Meet the Internet

I quickly realized that the Internet would give my cookbooks exactly what they were missing- interactivity. Now family members and friends could create heirloom cookbooks online- no postage or long distance fees. This made the process so much easier and more fun for the families… and me! Plus, I could add really cool features like spell check, recipe requests, and our recipe database, The Stock Pot. (I am a computer dork after all!)



Handmade Paper and the Tsunami

For months and months, I worked to perfect the handmade product. The “kitchen- friendly leather” cookbook binders were designed at this point, but I wanted to keep the dividers handmade. So, I ordered most of the handmade paper from Thailand and India, as well as printed papers from Florence. (See yesterday’s post for a visual.) The product was almost ready for the Internet when the Tsunami hit Southeast Asia on December 24, 2004, taking some of the handmade paper artisans. Such a sad event! I had to come up with Plan B…

Plan B: The New Generation of Secret Ingredients Dividers

I was determined to make the Secret Ingredients cookbook dividers as beautiful as possible. Throughout the creation of the cookbooks I kept three factors forefront in my mind: quality, organization, and customization. I have found that these are the most important things to remember when creating an heirloom.

After exploring all the options, the dividers you see on our website (and below) were created, and I am so excited about their design and quality. I wanted the cookbooks to fit every personality, and we were able to focus on this with these divider sets. Check out our Static Sample to flip through each set.

Fabulous Fruit Dividers

Fashionably Late Dividers

Purely Organic Dividers

.. And let's not forget Surf 'N Turf. Click here to see this vibrant set.

If you have any ideas for future divider styles or product designs, please let me know. I would love to hear your ideas!