A local Facebook group, originally meant to share recipes, has led to national best selling cookbooks and thousands of dollars donated to local charities.
Dawna Doell the creator of The Official Quarantine Cookbook, says it started as a Martensville centered Facebook page to share recipes. She wanted to use the recipes as a way to teach her kids some practical skills during the pandemic. However, the page grew substantially and through thousands of shares now has over 64,000 members from all over the world. Doell says the page created a sense of community when a lot of people have been socially-isolated from the people they are used to seeing. She adds during the pandemic people have turned to cooking at home, and not relying on pre-made foods. Doell says it has put a lot of people back in the kitchen.
With so many recipes being shared on the page, two physical cookbooks were created with the intention of donating portions of the proceeds to charity. The first Official Quarantine Cookbook raised $55,000 for Wounded Warriors Canada, and the Saskatchewan Division of the Mental Health Association. Just announced in the last few days, the next book called, the 2nd Wave, has raised $23,000 for Empty Arms and Size Small Dog Rescue.
Both cookbooks became National Best Sellers and Doell says there were times when the demand even managed to crash their web site on numerous occasions. Doell says because of the ongoing Official Quarantine Cookbook Facebook page she hasn’t had to search for a recipe anyplace else, for a long time.
Sales of the Official Quarantine Cookbooks will take a break in mid-April. Doell says the people who work on the cookbook all have other jobs and it takes quite a bit of work to do, with all books being shipped from her house. A team of admins and moderators will continue to run the Facebook page, and although there is demand, she’s not sure at this time if there will be more books in the Official Quarantine Cookbook series.
Find the Facebook Page here and click here for more information on the cookbooks.
