SAN ANTONIO — There’s a book collection in San Antonio that’s no small read. The largest Mexican cookbook collection in the nation is located at UTSA Libraries Special Collections.
The collection is made up of more than 3,000 books. The book lover’s dream is located inside a vault in a controlled temperature room.
Moira Mackay is with UTSA and is the public services and outreach archivist. She said the oldest book dates back to 1789.
“We have all states of Mexico, she said. “We have things that are specific to indigenous ingredients. We have specific to home cooks.”
There are all kinds of shapes and sizes of books, some are personally handwritten recipes from grandmothers.
“A lot of them start to feel like diaries where they have stuffed clippings or they have doodles flowers,” Mackay said.
Mackay said this collection started in 2001 with more than 500 books.
“It has grown,” she said.
She said they get the books through donations and by purchasing them. She said they also work with a rare book dealer in Mexico.
“We sometimes get large donations from unexpected places,” she said.The gem of a collection brings in people from all over. It also serves up inspiration for local chefs.
“We find it really special when they find a specific ingredient in a familiar dish that had existed many years ago or many decades ago,” she said.Mackay said it is special that the collection is nestled in a city known for culture and rich history.
“We want to continue building a collection today for a future audience,” she said.
The staff also works on preservation of the books, which costs money. The library has fundraisers to raise money for those efforts.
The collection is open to the public Monday-through-Friday at UTSA’s main campus.