The JKM Library Blog

Do you like The Great British Bake Off? How about puns? Do books and/or food delight you? If the answer is yes to one or all of these questions, the International Edible Book Festival is for you! This time-honored tradition here at Chatham is co-sponsored by the JKM Library and Chatham's food studies department and seeks to bring people together over a shared love of books and food.

We know many of you have never had the pleasure of experiencing the International Edible Book Festival, so this post is here to answer all (or hopefully most) of your questions. Have more? Contact the library at reference@chatham.edu.

What is the International Edible Book Festival? Started in 2000, this celebration of food and reading brings communities together to share creative literature-inspired food or beverage items (the ‘edible books’ in question). Contestants sign up to bring an ‘edible book’, and on the day of the event they present their book to judges and attendees. The judges taste and evaluate each entry and award prizes, and the attendees vote on their favorites for the People’s Choice prize. A wonderful time is had by all!

What does the event look like? We set up a bunch of tables in the JKM Library’s first floor lobby. Contestants set up their ‘edible books’ for display, and the judges begin their tastings and deliberations. Once the judges have had a chance to taste all entries, the tasting is opened up to all attendees. Attendees enjoy the ‘edible books’ and vote for their favorite (the People’s Choice Award). After everyone has had a chance to taste, vote, and socialize, we then announce our winners and distribute our prizes!

Who is allowed to participate? Everyone! This event is open to all Chatham students, staff, and faculty. It’s also open to the public at large! Anyone can enter an ‘edible book’ into the festival’s contest.

How can I participate? You can attend as just a spectator and vote for your favorite ‘edible book’, or you can participate as a contestant in the festival’s contest! Either way, we ask that you register. It’s important to know how many folks are planning to show up so we can plan for how many people to feed.

What do I need to know if I’m submitting an ‘edible book’ to the contest? Register for the event on Happenings and be sure to mark that you will be submitting an ‘edible book’. You will then receive informational emails from the librarians. Your ‘edible book’ can be as simple or complicated as you’d like. It can be a food or beverage item, but it has to have some tie to literature, libraries, or reading. You should include with your ‘edible book’ a list of ingredients (for both judging and dietary restriction purposes) and a copy of the book that inspired you! You are expected to stand with your ‘edible book’ during the judging process to answer any questions, but then are are free to go sample other contestant’s ‘edible books’ and vote for your favorite.

‘Edible books’ can be as complicated as an ornate cake or as simple and low maintenance as bringing in pre-made candy or cookies. Below are some examples of ‘edible books’ submitted to our past events:

What are the prize categories? Each ‘edible book’ entry is eligible to win prizes. Prizes usually include items like water bottles, cookbooks, gift baskets, gift certificates, honey from Eden Hall, and more. Our current categories are:

• Best Tasting: This one is fairly straight forward. It’s not how good your ‘edible book’ looks, but how good it tastes.
• Most Creative Literary Interpretation: Taste is not as important in this category. Instead, it’s your creativity the judges are looking at. The most creative ‘edible book’ wins!
• People’s Choice: This is the popular vote! All attendees get to taste the ‘edible books’ and vote for their favorite.
• The Rachel Carson Award: This is awarded to the ‘edible book’ that honors sustainability and/or nature. This could mean that the ingredients are locally or ethically sourced, that the ‘edible book' was created with environmental impact in mind, or that is represents something in nature. Those who would like to be considered for this award need to indicate on their ingredients list if something is local/sustainable or if environmental concerns went into the creation of the food item.
• Grand Prize: Awarded by the judges, this prize is best in show. It is awarded to the ‘edible book’ that really knocked it out of the park in both taste, creativity, and presentation. 

Winners from our 2019 event:

We hope this piques your interest and that you’ll enter an ‘edible book’ creation of your own in one of our upcoming International Edible Book Festivals. You can also visit the JKM Library's International Edible Book Festival virtual display for book more delicious literary fun!

April 2024

The solar eclipse wasn’t the only monumental event to happen on Monday, April 8th! The library once again teamed up with Chatham’s food studies program to bring back our much loved and much missed International Edible Book Festival for its ninth installment. Prior to COVID-19, this internationally recognized event was celebrated by Chatham annually, and we were delighted to finally resume the celebrations after a four-year hiatus. Started in 2000, the International Edible Book Festival celebrates the loves of food and reading. It brings communities together to share creative literature inspired food or beverage items (the ‘edible books’ in question). Contestants sign up to submit an ‘edible book’, and on the day of the event they present their book to judges and attendees. The judges taste and evaluate each entry and award prizes, and the attendees vote on their favorites for the People’s Choice prize. In 2024 we had four teams and individuals enter ‘edible books’ to the festival’s contest, and our amazing team of faculty judges (Heather McNaugher, Marc Nieson, and Barbara Ann McMonigal) did their sworn (voluntary) duty! We also had about 30 to 35 attendees filter through the festival, tasting ‘edible books’ and voting for their favorites for the People’s Choice awards. 
A huge thank you to Director of the Food Studies Program Alice Julier (and the food studies program as a whole) for the financial support, Falk School Program Assistant and Apiary Manager Rebecca Nathan for all of the logistical and creative support, and FSSE graduate student Grayson Skupin for helping brainstorm creative details. This event would not have been possible without you! 
Best Tasting went to Aidan Bobik and Evelyn Fay for Harry the Dirty Dog (“dirt” )
Most Creative Literary Interpretation went to Kate Emory for Madeline (madeleines)
Most Likely to Impress Rachel Carson went to Jocelyn Codner for A Connecticut
Yankee at King Arthur’s Court (half-moon cookies / eclipse cookies)
People’s Choice (popular vote) went to Aidan Bobik and Evelyn Fay for Harry the Dirty Dog (“dirt”) Grand Prize went to Dan and Sean Nolting for Cat’s Cradle (kitty litter cake). Their inventive submission managed to both disgust and delight attendees. Alice Julier and Rebecca Nathan had a wonderful time acquiring fun and creative prizes for our winners. Many of the prizes were bee, honey, or pollinator themed, as Rebecca was also hosting a week of pollinator events up at Chatham’s Eden Hall campus via the Eden Hall Apiary. Many people were lucky enough to get a jar of delicious local honey from the EHA! Prize cart!
Thank you to the entire Chatham community for helping us keep this tradition alive. We hope you all join us for our big 10-year celebration in 2025. We’re cooking up ways to make it absolutely fantastic. Until then, we hope you all enjoy your creative moments in the kitchen and are blessed with many incredible books. 

March 2024

Do you like The Great British Bake Off? How about puns? Do books delight you? If the answer is yes to one or all of these questions, the International Edible Book Festival is for you! We are delighted to announce that the International Edible Book Festival is making its return to Chatham after a four-year hiatus(COVID). This tradition, sponsored by the JKM Library and Chatham’s food studies program, will be back for its 9th installment on Monday, April 8th from 4-6pm on the first floor of the JKM Library We know many of you have never had the pleasure of experiencing the International Edible Book Festival, so this post is here to answer all (or hopefully most) of your questions. Have more? Contact Reference and Outreach Librarian Jocelyn Codner!
What is the International Edible Book Festival? Started in 2000, this celebration of food and reading brings communities together to share creative literature inspired food or beverage items (the ‘edible books’ in question). Contestants sign up to bring an ‘edible book’, and on the day of the event they present their book to judges and attendees. The judges taste and evaluate each entry and award prizes, and the attendees vote on their favorites for the People’s Choice prize. A wonderful time is had by all! What does the event look like? We set up a bunch of tables in the JKM Library’s first floor lobby. Contestants set up their ‘edible books’ for display, and the judges begin their tastings and deliberations. Once the judges have had a chance to taste all entries, the tasting is opened up to all attendees. Attendees enjoy the ‘edible books’ and vote for their favorite (thePeople’s ChoiceAward).After everyone has had a chance to taste, vote, and socialize, we then announce our winners and distribute our prizes! (click the above picture for more)

April 2019

On April 1st 2019, the Jennie King Mellon Library held its 8th Annual International Edible Book Festival, co-sponsored by Chatham University’s Food Studies Program. The entries were delightfully creative and absolutely delicious. And while every year we are impressed with the Edible Book creations submitted by participants, we were extra blown away this year. The competition was incredibly tough! We saw 12 Edible Book creations and enjoyed record breaking attendance with over 50 folks joining us for some yummy fun!
Family fun at the JKM Library’s 8th Annual International Edible Book Festival
The event was held in the Jennie King Mellon Library lobby. Our planning committee included Reference and Outreach Librarian Jocelyn Codner and food studies graduate student Jordan Mason, with support from Falk School Administrative Assistant Hallie Jensen. Hallie is always a huge help during the logistical planning of this event.
The International Edible Book Festival is an event celebrated in libraries around the world. It began in 2000 by two women who wanted to combine love for literature with love for food and cooking. It is traditionally celebrated on or around April 1st in honor of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.
Folks who decide to submit an Edible Book select a favorite book, or perhaps just a book that sparks inspiration, and they craft a food item or beverage that creatively interprets and represents that book! A few ways to accomplish this could be in a clever name (puns encouraged), the way the food item is decorated, the ingredients in the food item, or perhaps by featuring a particular food item that was featured in the book itself. The result is fun, delicious, and literary. Participants bring their Edible Books to the event, and attendees and judges get to taste and judge each entry!
At our Edible Book Festival, we offer five prize categories:
Most Sustainable (ingredients must be clearly marked as being organic, local, sustainable, etc)
Most Creative Literary Interpretation
Best Tasting
Crowd’s Choice
Grand Prize
This year’s official judges included Assistant Professor Marc Nieson and Archivist and Public Services Librarian Molly Tighe, who both have volunteered to judge in previous years, and new judge Assistant Professor Sarah Shotland. They selected the winners of Most Sustainable, Most Creative Literary Interpretation, Best Tasting, and the Grand Prize. The 50+ attendees all voted on Crowd’s Choice. Keep scrolling to see who the big winners were and what kind of amazing Edible Books were submitted this year!

Our Most Sustainable winner was “Call Me by Your Bundo” by Erica Cohen and Sarah Fink. This Edible Book played off of the books Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman and A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by E.G. Keller (presented by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver). It was a playfully decorated carrot cake that won for it’s sustainable ingredients and it’s socially sustainable message. 

Our Most Creative Literary Interpretation was “Make Room! Make Room!” by Dan Nolting, which drew its inspiration from the book Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison (later turned into the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green). Dan created a multimedia experience with his scifi steam-punk Edible Book that included a looping video with sound to accompany his lime coconut jello shots. 

The Best Tasting award went to “Game of Scones” by Kate Emory, obviously inspired by A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R. R. Martin. This Edible Book featured scones with four different delicious flavor profiles to represent four major families in the book series. 

The winner’s of the Crowd’s Choice award was “Jack and the Beanstalk” by Suhui Dong and Yuchun Tung for their stunning crepe cake flavored with matcha, rum, and red bean paste decorated with candy meringues and adorable illustrations and figures. 

And finally, the Grand Prize was awarded to Sarah Birmingham for “Dune”, inspired by the science fiction novel Dune (Dune #1) by Frank Herbert. Sarah’s Edible Book involved handmade pumpkin sherbet (pun intended), handmade cinnamon beignets, and (most impressively) handmade chai gummy worms!
Our 2019 winners!
Click through the gallery to see additional Edible Book entries and more photos from the festivities! We hope this inspires you to join us next spring for our 9th Annual
International Edible Book Festival.
“Alice in Wonderland” cheesecake and berry tarts
“Brew Your Own Polyjuice”
“Ophelia’s Bouquet of Madness”
“Oedipus Rex” cherry poppers
“Treasure Island”
“Tell Tale Tart”
“Goodnight Moon”
“If You Give a Moose a Muffin”
“Call Me by Your Bundo”
“Make Room! Make Room!”
The spread
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Game of Scones”
Preparing for judgement
Molly Tighe judging
Our judges making their rounds
Jocelyn brews a potion
Judges gonna judge
Polyjuice Potion for all!
 

March 2018

Another year, another AMAZING Edible Book Festival! The International Edible Book Festival is a celebration of food and literature, combining both into tasty fun! This year, we had an incredible variety of sweet and savory dishes ranging from cleverly simple to technically impressive. There was also liberal usage of props, much to our delight! It was exciting, to say the least. The event was again co-sponsored by the Food Studies Program and hosted in the Jennie King Mellon Library lobby. Our planning committee included Reference and Outreach Librarian Jocelyn Codner and Food Studies students Lore Pinder and Rachel Waugh. Participants select a favorite book, or perhaps just a book that sparks inspiration, and they craft a food item or beverage that creatively interprets and represents that book!
A few ways to accomplish this could be in a clever name (puns encouraged), the way the food item is decorated, the ingredients in the food item, or perhaps that particular food item was featured in the book. The result is a fun and delicious Edible Book. Participants bring their Books to the event, and lucky attendees get to taste and judge each entry!
At our Edible Book Festival, we offer five prize categories:
Most Sustainable (ingredients must be clearly marked as being organic, local, sustainable, etc)
Most Creative Literary Interpretation
Best Tasting
Crowd’s Choice
Grand Prize
This year we had the pleasure of Dr. Carrie Tippen, Associate Professor Marc Nieson, Dr. Alice Julier, and Archivist Molly Tighe as guest judges. They selected the winners of Most Sustainable, Most Creative Literary Interpretation, Best Tasting, and the Grand Prize. The 35+ attendees all voted on Crowd’s Choice. Keep scrolling to see who the big winners were and what kind of amazing Edible Books were submitted this year!

Most Sustainable: Mikayla Wobrak and Albert Stanley for “Seoul Long and Thanks for All The Fish Tacos”
Most Creative Literary Interpretation: Lore Pinder for “Sweeny Todd’s A Little Priest Pies”
Best Tasting: Rachel Snyder for “Not All Tarts Are Apple”
Crowd’s Choice: Jade and Iris Marzolf for “Brucie’s Cake from Matilda”
Grand Prize: Kate Emory for “The Crepe Gatsby”
A Little Priest Pies (Most Creative Literary Int.)
Not All Tarts are Apple (Best Tasting)
Prizes!!
Pulled Piggy
Baklava inspired by Cresent
The Crepe Gatsby (Grand Prize)
Bread and Jam for Frances / Arthur’s Honey Bear
The Sunshine and Biscotti Club
Brucie’s Cake from Matilda (Crowd’s Choice)
Animal Farm
Harold & the Purple Iced Cake
Seoul Long And Thank for All The Fish Tacos (Most Sustainable)
Our judges judging
Mikayla and Albert with their award winning Edible Book!

March 2017

 Our 6th annual celebration of the International Edible Book Festival was a really fun event! If you missed it, here are the highlights.

We had three fantastic judges: Dr. Carrie Tippen, Dr. Heather McNaugher, & Sophie Slesinger who, after some very serious deliberation, selected four of our five prizewinning edible books:

Best Tasting

Maryem Aslam, Harry Potter (chocolate oreo ball snitches)

Most Sustainable

Molly Tighe, Seitanic VS (Satanic Verses)

Most Creative Literary Interpretation

Kate Emory, Julius Caesar

Grand Prize:

Amy Lee Heinlen, A Good Man is Hard to Find

The final prize was determined by the attendees, who voted for their favorite book. The winner of this popular vote prize was:

Maria, Trump: The Art of the Deal

Everyone seemed to have a great time and the library lobby was packed:

Want to see ALL the books submitted? Check out the pictures on our Facebook page!

Also, fun fact: The Wikipedia page for the Edible Book Festival has featured a book from our 2012 event since April 2013 (and we didn’t add it!)! We’re famous!

If you missed this year’s event, don’t worry! There’s always next year, and you can even start planning your entry now. All Chatham students, staff, and faculty are invited to submit an edible book.

March 14, 2017

FREE FOOD! FABULOUS PRIZES!
It’s the event you’ve been waiting for all year. Or perhaps the event you didn’t even realize you’d been waiting for!
Join us for Chatham’s 6th annual celebration of the International Edible Book Festival! Wednesday, March 29th from 4:30-5:30 in the Lobby of the JKM Library.
What’s an edible book, you ask? It’s up to you! It may be food that looks like a book:
Food that was described or consumed by characters in a book:
A fun interpretation of the title of a book:
And whatever else you might think of!
Full details of the event can be found in the Chatham Happenings. Please join us – create your own book to enter for a chance to win one of 5 amazing prizes! Or just come for the free food and to vote for your favorite.
Hope to see you there!

April 2015

Yesterday’s celebration of the International Edible Books Festival was a rousing success! Thanks to everyone who participated.
Thank you also to our three wonderful judges for their hard work in selecting the prizewinning edible books:
Dr. Heather McNaugher, Associate Professor of English & Creative Writing
Malik Hamilton, Food Studies student
Amy Lee Heinlen, Librarian and Poet
Serious deliberation was required to select the prizewinners.
And a big congratulations, of course, to our fantastic prizewinners:
Most Creative Literary Interpretation:
Molly Tighe for Tender is the Night Most Creative Ingredients / Use of
Ingredients:
Shuai Lu for Ancient Egypt: The Land and its Legacy
Most Sustainable:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Most Popular Vote:
Rachel Geffrey for Curious George
Grand Prize:
Tiffany Waltenbaugh, Teresa Scibilia, & Lorraine Yanjtovich for The Very Hungry Caterpillar
 

April 2014

March 2014

April 2013

April 2012