*Photographs of family members.  Photos can be a great trigger for remembering family stories as well as great art work in your cookbook. Have your family members search their attics,shoe boxes and basements for photos.  This may be the time to suggest to store them in a safer place and digitize them to save on a computer or cd. You can add new photograph of the dishes you are putting into your cookbook when you prepare them for tasting.

*Family stories. Every family has stories. Some of these stories are funny, some sad and some are about sharing the love a being a family.  Share these stories with family members so that it will trigger more stories.  The stories can match the recipes being discussed in your cookbook or they can just be with a recipe that captures the flavor of a dish.

*Recipes might be stuffed in a box, an old cookbook or even placed in a note book.  Some recipes may not be written down so check with the elders of your family to see if they remember some foods that were traditionally served at family get to-gethers. Some dishes may have not been served  in a  generation so ask and you maybe surprised.