Cookbook
A cookbook is a specialized instructional book that provides recipes and guidance on preparing various foods. Its origins date back thousands of years, with early examples including ancient Egyptian tomb inscriptions and Greek and Roman writings that recorded culinary practices. Over time, cookbooks evolved to encompass not just recipes but also medical advice, etiquette, and social commentary, reflecting the cultural contexts of their times. The first printed cookbook, published in 1475, marked a significant milestone in culinary literature, although plagiarism was a common issue even then. In the modern era, cookbooks are authored by a diverse range of contributors, from trained chefs to home cooks and celebrities, each bringing their unique perspectives to the culinary arts. While the rise of social media and food blogs has increased the accessibility of recipes online, physical cookbooks remain widely popular, with significant sales reported in recent years. The ongoing interest in cookbooks suggests their importance in both preserving culinary traditions and adapting to contemporary cooking practices.
Cookbook
A cookbook is an instructional book of recipes that explains how to prepare and cook various foods. People have been writing down recipes for thousands of years, and over time, they collected these recipes and created cookbooks. Early cookbooks contained more than just cooking methods—they included medical tips, etiquette rules, and even political themes. These cookbooks were notorious for plagiarism, however. Even though people today do not cook as often as people did in the past, cookbooks remain popular in the twenty-first century, with thousands published worldwide each year. Authorship of cookbooks has also evolved to include not only trained chefs but also home cooks and even celebrities. People can also easily access recipes and cooking tips by accessing social media sites and cooking blogs. Despite the growing accessibility of new recipes online, physical cookbooks remain in high demand. According to a Publishers Weekly report, as noted by Forbes, sales of print cookbooks rose by 21 percent from 2017 to 2018.
History
Recipes can be traced back thousands of years to the walls of the tombs of important figures. In one ancient Egyptian tomb, the recipe for a flatbread was painted on the wall. In the years that followed, people carved their favorite recipes onto stone tablets and later transcribed them onto scrolls of parchment paper.
The Greek poet Archestratus recorded his culinary musings in poems in the fourth century BCE. The Roman official Cato the Elder wrote about the art of salting and preserving ham in his work De Agricultura (On Farming) around 160 BCE. The first collection of recipes came more than a century later in 10 CE with Marcus Gavius Apicius's De re Coquinaria (Of Culinary Matters), which was later renamed Apicius. The cooking-school instructor was well known for his sauces and meats and included more than five hundred recipes in his work. Apicius amassed much wealth but spent most of it—when his fortune was nearly gone, he threw an elaborate banquet and poisoned himself during the last course. A translation of his work remained in print as of the twenty-first century.
Considered the first true cookbook, The Forme of Cury appeared in Europe around 1390. King Richard II (either himself or his servants) wrote the manuscript, which was part memoir and part cookbook, containing about 150 recipes of dishes eaten at the time—and the ingredients included swan, peacock, and crane. The recipes, however, were complicated and vague, barely giving quantities and instructions.
Cookbooks also began to focus on subjects other than food. The French handbook Le Ménagier de Paris (The Good Wife's Guide) of the 1390s not only contained recipes but also tips on how to be what was considered an ideal and "good" wife. The Good Huswifes Jewell of 1585 included recipes but also diet tips for women to "make one slender."
While cookbooks had existed for some time, the first printed cookbook was published in 1475: De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine (On Honourable Pleasure and Health) by Bartolomeo de Sacchi. The book contained more than 250 recipes for Italian dishes, complete with detailed ingredient lists and techniques. However, De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine, which was later translated into several languages, was plagiarized, copied from a manuscript by Martino de Rossi of Como.
Plagiarism became a great concern as people discovered that several other cookbooks contained recipes that were printed elsewhere, sometimes word for word. However, no way existed to prevent the practice of reprinting recipes as one's own. This trend continued into the twenty-first century and became especially prominent with the advent of the Internet. In the eighteenth century, more women began to write cookbooks that targeted inexperienced cooks, later becoming known as "home cooks." English writer Hannah Glasse wrote The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747), but it too plagiarized recipes.
While people in America had been using cookbooks for years—especially ones brought over from Europe—the first American cookbook, American Cookery, did not appear until 1796. Written by Amelia Simmons, the cookbook contained the first recipes using ingredients native to America such as maize and pumpkins. She also added an artificial leavener called pearlash to recipes for baked goods to yield light and fluffy products such as cakes and muffins.
In 1845, English writer Eliza Acton published Modern Cookery for Private Families, which was the first cookbook to give exact quantities of ingredients and cooking times in the recipes. Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861), by Isabella Beeton, copied the format of Acton's book and provided readers with exact recipes as well as lifestyle advice and information on morals and etiquette.
Overview
As new corporations and brands established themselves in the twentieth century, these brands, such as Hershey's and Campbell's, began to publish cookbooks to promote themselves. With the introduction of new technology and gadgets for the kitchen came cookbooks with recipes geared toward these inventions, such as the gas range and microwave. For example, The Radiation Cookery Book (1955) was written for use with the new gas stove. However, as more people, including women, entered the workforce, less time was free for cooking.
As cookbooks flooded the market, authors fought to remain relevant, reinventing new dishes and cooking techniques throughout the years. While fewer people were cooking, they were watching more television cooking shows, which became very popular in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Soon television cooks and chefs, including Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay, Rachael Ray, and Jamie Oliver, became celebrities and began to publish and promote cookbooks of their own.
Cookbooks remain popular in the twenty-first century. More than twenty thousand cookbooks are published each year worldwide. The popularization of food blogs and social media sites has drastically increased the number of recipes available online—much to the dismay of cookbook publishers and authors since many of these recipes are plagiarized and copied from site to site.
Bibliography
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Maynard, Madeline. "Cookbook Sales are Jumping, which Is Great News for Shopes that Specialize in Them." Forbes, 10 Mar. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2019/03/10/cookbook-sales-are-jumping-which-is-great-news-for-shops-that-specialize-in-them/#4c23f35c6e54. Accessed 9 Mar. 2020.
"A Little History on English Cookbooks (Cookery Books)." Joy of Baking, www.joyofbaking.com/reviews/cookbookhistory.html. Accessed 28 Oct. 2016.
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Stoller-Conrad, Jessica. "Long Before Social Networking, Community Cookbooks Ruled the Stove." NPR, 20 July 2012, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/07/18/156983942/long-before-social-networking-community-cookbooks-ruled-the-stove. Accessed 28 Oct. 2016.
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