The National Day on Writing is organized by the National Council For Teachers of English, or the NCTE. On their National Day on Writing web page, the council writes "In light of the significance of writing in our national life, to draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing we engage in, and to help writers from all walks of life recognize how important writing is to their lives, NCTE established October 20 as The National Day on Writing®."

In October of 2021, teacher candidates in the English Education Program at Illinois State University held two events to celebrate the National Day on Writing. One of these events would be public-facing; the English Education Program sent out a QR code into public spaces, classrooms, and to people they knew that prompted individuals to write in to the question: Why do you write, and who do you write for? The responses to that forum can be viewed on their website.

The other event was program-wide; colleagues decided to create a community-oriented cookbook that blended together the act of recipe writing with the art of storytelling. This website is the space where that cookbook is published.

Titled, Why I Cook: (Book), over 2o writers from the program contributed to this work, which features both delicious recipes and engaging companion narratives. Reading this cookbook will bring readers not only closer to a delicious meal, but also to a sense of community.