There’s a particular kind of handwriting that belongs to the kitchen. Slanted, a little rushed, softened by a splash of olive oil. A recipe card with your mother’s loops and crossings-out. A note in the margin, underlined twice: more honey next time.
Recipes are how we remember people and their stories. Her jam made every August, from the same tree. His stew that turned up on the doorstep when you needed it. The pasta they made at midnight, after everyone got home. Write one down and you keep more than the method – you keep the moment it belonged to.
This International Chefs Day, we’re celebrating the people who cook – in professional kitchens and at home – and the meaningful process of putting it all on paper.
What is International Chefs Day and why does it matter?
Celebrated on 20 October each year, International Chefs Day honours the craft of cooking and the knowledge passed from one generation to the next.
Founded in 2004 by the late chef Dr Bill Gallagher, then president of Worldchefs, the day brings chefs around the world together to teach, share and inspire the next generation.
It matters because food is never just food. It’s how we nourish ourselves and look after each other. It’s what brings people to the same table. And in the right hands, it’s an art form: years of practice, instinct and invention on a single plate.
Every good cook learned from someone. A head chef. A grandmother. A well-thumbed cookbook with handwritten notes in the margins. And the recipes we return to are usually the ones someone took the time to write down.
For the professional: What do you buy a chef who has everything?
They have the knives, the pans, the shelves of cookbooks. But what about a book of their own?
A personalised recipe journal makes a thoughtful gift for a professional chef – somewhere to collect the dishes they've developed, inherited or perfected over years in the kitchen.
Personalise the cover with their name, their restaurant or a phrase they’ll love. A place for the signature dishes they’ve served a hundred times – and the ones that never made it onto a menu, but deserve to be remembered.
First kitchen: What's a thoughtful gift for someone learning to cook?
A recipe journal isn’t only for seasoned cooks – it’s just as thoughtful a gift for someone finding their feet in the kitchen. Better still, give them one with a few recipes already written inside.
A student moving into their first flat. A budding chef. Someone finally taking on Sunday lunch. Start their collection with the dishes you know by heart – your roast potatoes, your mother’s lasagne, the cake you make for every birthday.
With difficulty ratings and space for notes, they can build their repertoire as they go, adding their own discoveries along the way.
Personalise the cover with their name or a dedication: For Mia’s first kitchen.
Plate to page: What is a recipe journal used for?
A recipe journal brings your favourite dishes together in one place – from the weeknight staples to the special-occasion recipes, and the ones that still need a little work.
It's a place for the details that rarely make it into a printed recipe. An extra squeeze of lemon. A longer spell in the oven. The ingredient you substituted once and never looked back.
Over time, those notes become something more personal. A record of what you've cooked, who you've cooked for and the little adjustments that make a recipe distinctly yours.
Book or binder: What's the difference between our recipe journals?
The difference is in the binding. Papier’s recipe journals come in three styles: hardback, softback spiral or binder format with a fabric cover. The pages inside are the same, and every format can be personalised.
The hardback is compact and beautifully bound – the kind of book that sits on the kitchen shelf, (too good to live in a drawer).
The softback spiral is larger and lies flat on the counter, so the recipe stays open while you cook.
The binder is the heirloom of the three: a tactile fabric cover, personalisation pressed in foil, and pages you can take out, rearrange and slot back in for years to come. The kind of recipe book that gets handed down, sauce stains and all.
Inside the pages: What do Papier's recipe journals include?
Designed to hold 85 recipes, Papier's recipe journals are divided into four sections – breakfast, lunch, dinner and treats (this could include sweet and savoury).
Each recipe page has space for ingredients, methods, difficulty ratings and personal notes. Think clever substitutions, the happy accidents, and details you'll want to remember next time. Perhaps even who first made it for you.
You'll also find useful measurements and conversions, alongside space to note favourite independent food shops and restaurants worth visiting.
Everything in its place: How do I organise my recipes?
The best way to organise recipes is to start with the ones you actually cook. The dishes you return to, the favourites you know almost by heart, the ones people ask you to make again.
1. Begin with your go-tos. The recipes you make regularly, rather than the ones you've saved and forgotten.
2. Organise by occasion. Papier's recipe journals are divided into breakfast, lunch, dinner and treats, making it easy to find what you're looking for.
3. Make your own annotations. Add difficulty ratings, ingredient swaps and small discoveries you don’t want to forget next time.
4. Keep your favourites close. Recipe cards are perfect for the dishes you make on repeat, while a journal holds the full collection.
While a screenshot can disappear into a camera roll, a handwritten recipe is always there to return to.
For the food lover: What’s a good personalised gift for a foodie?
In addition to our recipe journals, a set of personalised recipe cards is a gift that’s both beautiful and useful for any foodie – a way to keep favourite recipes close and share them with the people they love.
For the host, they’re the finishing touch to a good dinner party. Write out the evening’s menu and leave one at each place setting. Send guests home with the dish they couldn’t stop talking about. Or slip one in with a thank-you note the next morning.
Between parties, prop one up by the hob for the weeknight regular, or post the recipe a friend has been asking for since your last dinner together.
Recipe cards are made to travel – from kitchen to kitchen, hand to hand.
Who else would love a recipe journal?
A recipe journal makes a thoughtful gift for anyone starting a new chapter in the kitchen – newlyweds, new homeowners or simply a friend who loves to cook.
• For newlyweds: a place for the dishes that become theirs – the first dinner party, the anniversary meal, the recipes from both families. Personalise it with their names and wedding date.
• For new homeowners: the first meals cooked in a new kitchen deserve somewhere to live. Write a favourite recipe on the first page as a housewarming note.
• For the friend who loves to cook: the one who brings dessert without being asked. Give them somewhere to keep it all.
