A Lesson from Meat Loaf

When you read the headline of this post you are probably thinking how could I possibly learn anything from a food dish. But you see, I'm speaking of Meat Loaf, the singer. Please bear with me as there is a relevant point about marketing cookbooks in this blog.

Today most people under the age of 35 never buy a full album. It's not like the old days when we bought vinyl albums or even CDs. No, they go to iTunes and simply download songs. This is sad because some really great songs that don't get air play on the radio are never heard. Even more importantly, they never get written because the songwriters know that they are limited by this buying culture.

Recently I heard one of my favorite songs of all time by Meat Loaf, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." I didn't have this song on my iPod, so I decided to buy it. Instead of just downloading the song, which would have been easy, I bought "The Very Best of Meat Loaf" album. Now what is the lesson in this story?

Buying the complete album gave me the song I wanted, but also many other great songs that I hadn't even remembered—"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad," "A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste," "Bat Out of Hell," and others.

The same thing is true of recipes. We can find any recipe we want on the internet, and they are usually free. However, when you buy a cookbook, even if it's just for one great recipe, you will likely find a dozen or more equally as good recipes to enjoy. For my money, the fun of reading the recipes in a cookbook is a value in itself. Do yourself a favor and pick up a cookbook with a tried-and-true favorite recipe in it. Now begin to skim through and see how many other deliciously sounding recipes you come across. Try one this week, and see if you don't keep going back to that book again and again.

Yes, one signature recipe is a bargain, but in my opinion the value is even greater because there are always other gems to be found if you just dig deep enough.