How we gather: Holly Wang on hosting a cookbook club in Brooklyn, New York
The visual designer shares the rules of cookbook club, her attitude on small-space hosting, and a colorful cake stand you'll love
Hi everyone,
I’ve heard from both readers and from girlfriends at dinner recently: Meeting potential friends as an adult is hard. Becoming actual friends with them is even harder.
We could all use a little help in the friendship department, myself included. This month, I’m starting a newsletter series called How we gather, featuring people who are bringing friends together in fun and inspired ways. I’ll invite guests to share ideas, stories, and practical tips to help us find friendship, create community, and gather more intentionally.
Our inaugural guest is visual designer, art director, and my longtime friend Holly Wang. Originally from California and now based in Brooklyn, Holly is a Taiwanese American who organizes a quarterly cookbook club in New York. Holly is one of those creative types who effortlessly collects interesting friends from all walks of life. And, she’s an animated storyteller with an adventurous palate—which makes her a really fun person to share a table with.
Below, Holly tells us about the origins of her cookbook club and spills her best advice for getting one off the ground.
TW: What inspired you to start a cookbook club?
HW: I’m in a regular book club, where we rotate through all kinds of different books—graphic novels, fiction, nonfiction, etc. We were doing one around the holidays, so I thought it’d be fun to pick something more community-oriented and chose the Dishoom cookbook as my book that month. Everyone came, everyone made something—it was super fun! At that meeting, I decided to start an offshoot focused on cooking.
What are the rules of the cookbook club?
We meet once a quarter—we assign an order based on a random number generator, and each quarter two people get to pick a book. Everyone votes on the book they’re most interested in cooking out of, and the person who picked the winning book hosts. So far the meetings have been on the weekend—either a weekend lunch or dinner, since that seems to work best for most schedules. Right now we have around 15 people in the club, but not everyone comes every time.
How do you decide who’s going to cook what?
We don’t assign recipes, but we have a spreadsheet where everyone shares what they’re making so that we don’t double up on recipes and we know who’s coming. It’s potluck style, so everyone cooks at their own place and brings it to the group meeting. It’s quite fun! Some people are ambitious and will go all out and make three things. It’s kind of up to whatever you want to do. Everyone usually brings wine, so the host usually ends up with a lot of it.
How did you find new members for your cookbook club?
I initially posted it on my Instagram (my IG is set to private), and it grew through word of mouth—some are my friends from the music industry, some are just people I’ve known forever, some are my friends’ spouses. It’s their friends from work, friends of friends who find out about it through a mutual friend… it really runs the gamut and is very inclusive. If you’re interested, you’re invited.
How has the cookbook club helped people make new friendships or build community?
It’s been a really nice way to make new friends. Most people in the club are from different friend groups, but everyone likes to cook or is interested in cooking, and that gives us all common ground. I once made a custard dessert that didn’t turn out exactly, and I thought it was going to be really embarrassing, but everyone was super nice about it. That kind of openness and supportiveness is a very nice thing to have with people you’re not necessarily that close with. It’s a judgment free zone.
You really get to know people in a more intimate way when you go into their homes. One of our cookbook club members, Amanda, has this giant framed gallery of Guy Fieri cards because her partner collects baseball cards and she LOVES Guy Fieri—that’s kind of an odd thing to have and you show up and you’re like OH, this person’s very into Guy Fieri. I love getting to see that.
What do you think is unique to having a cookbook club in New York?
We cook from a lot of ethnic cookbooks—Korean American, Win Son, Dishoom, etc.—so sometimes you have to trek to a specific grocery store for certain ingredients. But it’s fun to explore those little specialty stores and to see what unique products they have. Transporting large servings of food can also be a challenge in the city—I usually Uber, but I’ve had friends take the subway to my house—so you gotta figure out good packaging.
“You show up and you’re like OH, this person’s very into Guy Fieri.
I love getting to see that.”
What’s been your club’s favorite cookbook to cook out of and why?
Probably Ottolenghi Simple—everyone knocked their dishes out of the park.
What are your some of your hosting essentials?
Plenty of serving bowls, utensils, and glasses! It doesn't need to be anything fancy, but some of my favorites are:
Our Place water glasses, which are great for wine, cocktails, and water! I have so many of these in multiple colors
Great Jones bakeware is great for going from kitchen to table—the baking sheet easily doubles as a serving tray
Any other tips or takeaways for organizing a cookbook club?
Don’t be afraid to be the organizer. Having a leader to nudge things along is key to keeping up the momentum, especially with everyone’s busy schedules.
You don’t need a lot of space to host. We’re in New York—our apartments are not humongous. At my place, I don’t even have a dining table, so people sit wherever they can—at the kitchen counter, around the coffee table, at the desk in my living room. It’s very casual.
Make it easy and accessible. People don’t necessarily want to buy every book, especially if they’re not familiar with the author, so I try to make sure the cookbooks are available at the library. We also allow people to cook from a food writer’s online recipes (for example, if we’re doing Molly Baz’s cookbook, you can make one of the recipes she’s published online). I don’t want it to be cost prohibitive for anyone to participate.
Have everyone bring tupperware. There are usually plenty of leftovers since people tend to make more food than we can eat. At a normal dinner party, it’s probably not proper etiquette to take leftovers home, but because we’re cooking communally, it’s very much encouraged!
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Just for fun…what are five things you’re loving right now?
Rewatching Suits, just like everyone else. The show is so ridiculous but entertaining.
Innisfree Daily UV Defense Sunscreen: This is my favorite sunscreen I've been using everyday for the past year. I feel like a good sunscreen is a must-have!
My Contax T2 film camera—I got it a few years ago, and it's been my main camera ever since.
My friend's gallery in Brooklyn, International Objects, just opened a new show, and it's spectacular!
My favorite moment of laughter every week is the podcast RIDE with Benito Skinner and Mary Beth Barone. It feels like you're just hanging with your two best friends chatting about silly musings on life and makes you forget all your worries for a little while.
Thanks for sharing your cookbook club with us, Holly!
I hope you enjoyed our conversation—let us know if you have any questions for Holly in the comments. And if your wheels have started turning on starting your own cookbook club, why not forward this on to a friend??
Do you host a regular gathering to bring friends together? Whether you organize a weekly mahjong night, a seasonal dinner party, or an annual crawfish boil, I’d love to hear about it. Tell us more in a comment below or hit reply to send me a note.
Love this collab! Holly I wanna make it to your cookbook club one day 🤩
Such a good idea! ❤️