|
|
|
|
Cookbooks, Vintage and Cook Booklets (cb) Some women leave diaries. My mother left
recipes. Cookbooks have been around for hundreds of years and serve as a chronicle and treasury of the fine art of cooking. One of the oldest cook “books” was on a clay tablet from Babylon ca. 1500 B.C., which contains directions for sophisticated, aromatic dishes. Another early inscription of recipes were found scrawled on fireplaces and kitchen walls in the ruins of Pompeii after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Cookbooks have been around for hundreds of years and serve as a chronicle and treasury of the fine art of cooking. One of the oldest cook “books” was on a clay tablet from Babylon ca. 1500 B.C., which contains directions for sophisticated, aromatic dishes. Another early inscription of recipes were found scrawled on fireplaces and kitchen walls in the ruins of Pompeii after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Probably the first cookbook by a woman was one by Hannah Wooley. In 1664 she wrote The Cooks Guide or Rare Receipts for Cookery. In the preface she said she wrote the book "to testifie to the scandalous world that I do not altogether spend my time idly.” However, it was not until the next century that women began to appear as authors of cookbooks. In colonial America,
cookbooks made a fairly late appearance. The first cookbook printed here
Women’s names did not appear on early cookbooks. At first women writers identified the author only as "A Lady." They were included in written record only if they were engaged in civic affairs and linked with famous men. In addition, before the twentieth century, fewer women were able to write their own accounts of domestic life, for on the whole fewer women were able to read and more than men and even if they could write, they did not consider their experiences worthy of recording. In addition, women did not want to provide intimate glimpses of their work and aspects of their life. Women, who thought their lives too ordinary to be of interest to others, used their cooking skills and prized recipes as a vehicle for making themselves visible. By the 19th century, women dominated the field of household literature as authors and audience. During this time, women began to gather their recipes[1] (also called “receipts” until the late 19th century) into a single volume and sell them to generate funds for charitable activities. The cookbook became a communal affair.
Recipe Booklets
The recipe booklets are a great item to collect. They are cheerful, have colorful graphics, and have a historical interest. They are also packed with fascinating detail and provide an informal and entertaining chronicle of American life during the past century. What are recipe booklets? They are called cookbook pamphlets or cook-booklets. They are generally booklets of less than 50 pages and they were typically given away by food and kitchen appliance companies to advertise their products. These little cookbooks were an extraordinarily popular form of promotion from the turn of the century through the 1970’s. Most were free for the asking.Because they were really advertisements, recipe booklets or pamphlets were often lavishly illustrated. Many times, well-known artists were commissioned to do the artwork. This scrapbook page was created using a page from a 1940’s cook booklet (right). The recipe was included and the top was left open so an appropriate quote (with a brad on the end) could be added: Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense
of purpose
[1] It is interesting to note that the origins of the word “recipe” to the Latin recipere, meaning “exchange.” (Theophano, 41). |
Send mail to
cheryl@croppingcooks.com with any
questions or comments about this web site.
|
