Sat 4/7 @ noon
To best explain Loganberry Books owner Harriet Logan’s sense of humor, look no further than the popular Shaker Heights venue’s annual Edible Books Festival.
“It’s kind of a play on April Fools’ Day,” Logan said. “This is year number 11 for the festival, which has only one rule really: to create something entirely from edible materials that has something to do with books.
“How you interpret that rule is wherein lies the fun. So some people make cakes that look like books. And some people make dishes of madeleines from Proust. Other people go hog wild with puns. It’s all fair game. We have a huge range of participants from small girl scouts to retirees to chefs to people who couldn’t cook if their lives depended on it.”
Taking place every year on the first Saturday of April, in honor of April Fools’ Day and the birthday of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, famous for his book Physiologie du gout, this year’s affair is scheduled for Sat 4/7 at the Larchmere Boulevard business.
The Edible Books Festival does include numerous contests won by popular vote and awarded appropriate books: Logan Award for Most Literary; Otis Award for Most Appetizing; Strong Award for Best Binding and Zober Award for Best Pun.
Overall, the idea is for the participant to be as creative as possible. Logan said past entries have ranged from a The Princess and the Pea layered cake to Harry Potter monster cakes and a collection of miniature books made out of rice crackers and noodles complete with scripted letters in Chinese.
“One of my favorites was a large loaf of Italian bread, pretty thick, that’s cut off at the bottom,” Logan said. “It stands on end and hollowed at the top with a handle and a hot dog sticking out of it. It was titled ‘Frankenstein.’”
Loganberry Books and Strong Bindery have sponsored the Cleveland event since 2004 and give out handmade miniature book pins to all contest entrants and book awards to contest winners. All contest entrants get photos of their entry on the Loganberry website. There’s a $3 fee for voting and eating of the Edible Books.
Part of the fun is after the judging is completed, participants and visitors get to taste the culinary submissions.
“There’s an ebb and flow,” Logan said. “The first year I think we had about 30 entries, and I think our highest was about 50. We’re somewhere around 40 this year.”
While interest among participants varies, Logan admits the event doesn’t necessarily translate into store business.
“It’s a crowd pleaser,” Logan said. “People enjoy it. Literally, I have customers who only come to this event. They come every year, and I never see them for the rest of the year. So it’s just a way of meeting new friends and getting people in the door.”
Naturally, one would assume an edible book festival would at the very least drive up sales of cookbooks?
“I wish I could say yes, but no,” Logan said.
Considering the Edible Books Festival has an April Fools’ Day component, it does make one wonder who the joke is on?
Logan laughed, “Oh, I think we’re all in on it.”
Shaker Heights, OH 44120