Let’s say you want to write a cookbook, and you live in the USA. Should you write recipes that include metric measurements (liters and grams) in additional to imperial (cups and pounds)? That’s a good question, and one that’s being asked more often these days.
First, let’s admit that the US is way behind in the metrics arena. It should not come as a surprise that, to quote Dave Barry: “The metric system is not going to catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.” We are one of only three countries that have not yet embraced the metric system, along with Burma and Liberia.
Second, many bakers are adamant about measuring dry ingredients by weight for accuracy, and more baking books sold in the US list them.
And third, a daily US newspaper has taken to including metric measurements in some recipes, as some kind of experient.
To get some clarity on the issue, I turned to Melissa Moore, an editor at Ten Speed Press specializing in cookbooks, about the state of metric measurements today:
Q. Is metric measurement in cookbooks getting more popular in the US?
A. There has been somewhat of a shift. More people have a digital scale in their homes [Read more…] about Is it Time for Metrics in US Recipes? A Q&A with Ten Speed’s Melissa Moore
