Making Broth

The old saying runs: “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” But perhaps that depends on the kind of broth being made.

Back about 1991 I joined the COOKS forum on CompuServe and discovered an entire online community of people as passionate about food and cooking as I am. We shared recipes, had long arguments about sharpening knives, and traded sly innuendoes. The forum was great fun and I met some wonderful cooks.

Then in ’94 one of the members decided to host what she called a Cooks Bash. She extended an invitation to the entire forum to come to South Carolina (where she lived) and spend a weekend eating, visiting, and getting to know each other face-to-face. Something like 35 people attended — some from as far away as England and Holland — and a wonderful time was had by all. In fact, we had such fun we decided to do it again two years later.

Sadly the original group fragmented, but a core relocated to another CompuServe forum (in fact, that core group ended up relocating several times (a sort of culinary diaspora) before finding it’s current home in a private newsgroup) and sure enough a second Bash was held in 1994. Half the size of the first gathering, it still managed to be so much fun that a third Bash was planned for ’96.

It’s now 2004 and at the end of this week we’ll gather in Atlanta for the sixth Cooks’ Bash. Aside from four of us who have never missed a Bash, the group has varied each time — as has the location. But the Bashes remain a celebration of good food and good company.

It’s a testament to the power of what is now the Internet that this collection of people has managed to survive and remain as tightly knit as it is for 13 years even as individual members have come and gone.

Kevin