Esther Bradford Aresty (March 26, 1908 - December 23, 2000) was a cookbook collector and culinary

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

who wrote on

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

cookbooks A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...

, and

etiquette Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...

Early life and education

Esther Bradford was born March 26, 1908, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, to Lithuanian immigrants. Her family later moved to

Chariton, Iowa Chariton is a city in, and the county seat of, Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,193 at the 2020 census. Lucas is the primary distribution center for and the former corporate headquarters of the Hy-Vee supermarket chain. H ...

. Her mother was a talented pianist and cook.

Marriage, collecting and publishing

Esther met Jules Aresty while working for Mandel Brothers Department Store in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1941, he became a co-owner of the S.P. Dunham and Co. department store in Trenton, New Jersey. After their marriage they settled in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. Her own publications include ''The Delectable Past'' (1964), ''The Best Behavior'' (1970), and ''The Exquisite Table'' (1980). ''The Delectable Past'' is an extensive culinary history, which she described as covering "the joys of the table - from Rome to the Renaissance, from Queen Elizabeth I to Mrs. Beeton." In addition to recreating more than 700 recipes of the past, the book discusses menus and manners, placing them in their historical context. In ''The Best Behavior'', she again drew upon her collection, discussing the development of manners as shown through courtesy and etiquette books. ''The Exquisite Table'' focused on the history of French cooking. Aresty is credited with foreshadowing current academic work on women and the kitchen, introducing the "liberating idea that food was a suitable, if indeed not essential, subject of discourse". She wrote both non-fiction and fiction. Her first published book was an adult romance, ''The Grand Venture'' (1963). She later published a teen romance novel, ''Romance in Store'' (1983) under the pseudonym Elaine Arthur. Aresty also worked as a writer and producer on

Elsa Maxwell Elsa Maxwell (May 24, 1883 – November 1, 1963) was an American gossip columnist and author, songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality and professional hostess renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures of her day. Maxw ...

's radio show, Elsa Maxwell's Party Line. She held a position on the board of advisors of the American Institute of Wine and Food.

Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts

Aresty and her husband donated the Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1996. The collection includes, among others, the first cookbook ever printed, ''De Honesta Voluptate'' by

Bartholomew de Platina Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو� ...

, produced in Venice in 1475; a 15th-century Roman manuscript written by admirers of the Roman gourmet

Apicius ''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking'') is a collection of Roman cookery recipes. It is thought to have been compiled in the fifth century AD. Its language is in many ways closer ...

and an encomium in rhyme, written by Frederick the Great of Prussia in praise of his cook in 1772.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aresty, Esther Bradford 1908 births 2000 deaths American cookbook writers Women cookbook writers Writers from Syracuse, New York People from Chariton, Iowa 20th-century American women writers Writers from Iowa American people of Lithuanian descent 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women non-fiction writers