Always on
This project successfully funded on 31st January 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
The Cookbook Shop
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Aim
Help us launch Scotland's only dedicated culinary bookshop!
Culinary bookshops are thriving centres of creativity and community all over the world. And it's no surprise: few topics unite people better than food. Yet, there aren't many of these shops in the UK.
We're opening a bookshop in Edinburgh for people who love and think deeply about food: how it's grown, prepared, served and remembered. A place with unmatched depth in each category, from regional recipe books to technique-forward professional tomes, foraging and fermentation guides, and essays on food history and culture. Cookbooks from everywhere and for everyone, no matter your interest, age or experience.
Whether you're after inspiration or education, there will be something here for you.
The Location
Edinburgh loves food:
- The Good Food Guide named Edinburgh its Most Exciting Food Destination for 2025.
- 35 Edinburgh restaurants feature in the Michelin Guide, and 7 hold Michelin stars.
- This year, Time Out placed Edinburgh 6th among its top UK food cities, surpassing even London.
- Every summer, Edinburgh hosts the Foodies Festival and the Food and Folk Festival. The annual International Book Festival attracts big names in food writing to speak to packed audiences.
As Chloë Hamilton, co-editor of the Good Food Guide, told The Times, “Every year, our coverage of Edinburgh’s dining scene ranks among the most-read content by our knowledgeable readers and this is the era in which the city is answering their voracious appetite for great restaurants at every level.”
Inside and outside the city, Scotland’s chefs, food producers, foragers, distillers and hunger organisations are doing world-class work. We want to amplify their voices and build an engaged community around a shared goal of keeping everyone well fed.
The Vision
Picture a warm kitchen hearth filled with thousands of design-led culinary books and a curated selection of locally made crafts.
We also have big plans for events and collaborations:
- Cookbook clubs: Make new friends while cooking together from a different cookbook each month.
- Cookbook Shop dates: Rent out the space for a romantic evening of private shopping or just hanging out with friends, with drinks and canapés.
- Demos and classes: The possibilities are truly limitless: cheesemaking, wine tasting, foraging, kids’ cooking, tablescaping, knife skills, holiday recipes, cooking with dietary restrictions—even cooking for pets.
- Food pantry and mutual aid fundraising events
- Secondhand cookbook swaps
- Foodie film nights
- Author talks
- Book signings
- Drag storytime
- ...and many more!
The Next Steps
We're busy designing the space, collecting our initial stock and preparing to renovate.
Funds from our backers will go a long way towards helping us make our space a more beautiful and accessible place to linger over good books. We’ll need to pay for:
- Bookshelves, displays, tables, signage, decor
- Comfortable seating
- Point-of-service and inventory management systems
- Initial inventory of books, zines, merchandise, drinks, pantry items and crafts
- Shop modifications to ensure a smooth walking experience and excellent ventilation
If we’re lucky enough to meet our funding target, we’ll happily stretch it to reach some of our long-term ambitions faster:
- More collaborations with independent restaurants, cookbook authors, food writers and food producers
- Floor staff with expertise in specific areas of food and drink
- A larger children’s section that provides a safe space for families to browse and play
The Rewards
To thank you for your contribution, we’re offering a variety of exciting rewards, including signed cookbooks, bespoke gift consultations and special edition Cookbook Shop merch.
And finally, thank you
We can’t thank you enough for being here. Thank you for reading and sharing. Thank you for being part of our shop in whatever way you’re moved to.
Please stop by our Instagram (@cookbookshopedin) and sign up for our Substack (@thecookbookshopedinburgh) to stay in the loop with shop happenings. We’re always happy to chat about food, cookbooks and what the reading public wants to see at our shop. It is, after all, for you.
Wishing you good eats and full tables,
Martyn & Liz
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made