A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. His ...

s. 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 Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

(appetizer, first course, main course, dessert), by main ingredient, by cooking technique, alphabetically, by region or country, and so on. They may include illustrations of finished dishes and preparation steps; discussions of cooking techniques, advice on kitchen equipment, ingredients, and substitutions; historical and cultural notes; and so on. Cookbooks may be written by individual authors, who may be chefs, cooking teachers, or other food writers; they may be written by collectives; or they may be anonymous. They may be addressed to home cooks, to professional restaurant cooks, to institutional cooks, or to more specialized audiences. Some cookbooks are didactic, with detailed recipes addressed to beginners or people learning to cook particular dishes or cuisines; others are simple aide-memoires, which may document the composition of a dish or even precise measurements, but not detailed techniques.

History

Early works

Not all cultures left written records of their culinary practices, but some examples have survived, notably three Akkadian tablets from Ancient Mesopotamia, dating to about 1700 BC, large fragments from Archestratus, the Latin ''

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 some texts from the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. The earliest collection of recipes that has survived in Europe is '' De re coquinaria'', written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

. An early version was first compiled sometime in the 1st century and has often been attributed to the Roman gourmet

Marcus Gavius Apicius Marcus Gavius Apicius is believed to have been a Roman gourmet and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius. The Roman cookbook ''Apicius'' is often attributed to him, though it is impossible to pro ...

, though this has been cast in doubt by modern research. An ''

'' came to designate a book of recipes. The current text appears to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century; the first print edition is from 1483. It records a mix of ancient Greek and Roman cuisine, but with few details on preparation and cooking. An abbreviated epitome entitled ''Apici Excerpta a Vinidario'', a "pocket Apicius" by Vinidarius, "an illustrious man", was made in the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

era. In spite of its late date it represents the last manifestation of the cuisine of Antiquity.

Medieval

Asian

The earliest cookbooks known in Arabic are those of al-Warraq (an early 10th-century compendium of recipes from the 9th and 10th centuries) and al-Baghdadi (13th century). '' Manasollasa'' from India contains recipes of vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisines, which preceded the cookbook writing history in Europe by a century. While the text is not the first among Indian books to describe fermented foods, it contains a range of cuisines based on fermentation of cereals and flours. Chinese recipe books are known from the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, but most were lost. One of the earliest surviving Chinese-language cookbooks is Hu Sihui's " Yinshan Zhengyao" (Important Principles of Food and Drink), believed to be from 1330. Hu Sihui,

Buyantu Khan Buyantu Khan ( Mongolian: Буянт хаан; Mongolian script: ; ), born Ayurbarwada (Mongolian: Аюурбарбад ; ), also known by the temple name Renzong (Emperor Renzong of Yuan ( Chinese: 元仁宗, April 9, 1285 – March 1, 1320), was ...

's dietitian and therapist, recorded a Chinese-inflected Central Asian cuisine as eaten by the Yuan court; his recipes were adapted from foods eaten all over the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

. '' Eumsik dimibang'', written around 1670, is the oldest

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

n cookbook and the first cookbook written by a woman in East Asia.

European

After a long interval, the first recipe books to be compiled in Europe since Late Antiquity started to appear in the late thirteenth century. About a hundred are known to have survived, some fragmentary, from the age before printing. The earliest genuinely medieval recipes have been found in a Danish manuscript dating from around 1300, which in turn are copies of older texts that date back to the early 13th century or perhaps earlier. Low and

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

manuscripts are among the most numerous. Among them is ''Daz buch von guter spise'' ("The Book of Good Food") written c. 1350 in Würzberg and ''Kuchenmeysterey'' ("Kitchen Mastery"), the first printed German cookbook from 1485. Two French collections are probably the most famous: '' Le Viandier'' ("The Provisioner") was compiled in the late 14th century by

Guillaume Tirel Guillaume Tirel, known as Taillevent (French: "wind-cutter" i.e. an idle swaggerer) (born ca. 1310 in Pont-Audemer – 1395), was an important figure in the early history of French cuisine. He was cook to the Court of France at the time of the ...

, master chef for two French kings; and '' Le Menagier de Paris'' ("The Householder of Paris"), a household book written by an anonymous middle class Parisian in the 1390s. Du fait de cuisine is another Medieval French cookbook, written in 1420. From Southern Europe there is the 14th century

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the El Carche comarca in Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance language also known as Catal ...

manuscript Llibre de Sent Soví (1324), the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

("The book of all recipes of dishes") and several Italian collections, notably the Venetian mid-14th century ''Libro per Cuoco'', with its 135 recipes alphabetically arranged. The printed '' De honesta voluptate et valetudine'' ("On honourable pleasure"), first published in 1475, is one of the first cookbooks based on Renaissance ideals, and, though it is as much a series of moral essays as a cookbook, has been described as "the anthology that closed the book on medieval Italian cooking". Medieval English cookbooks include ''

The Forme of Cury ''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Middle French : 'to cook') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most fa ...

'' and '' Utilis Coquinario'', both written in the fourteenth century.

is a cookbook authored by the chefs of

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father ...

. Utilis Coquinario is a similar cookbook though written by an unknown author. Another English manuscript (1390s) includes the earliest recorded recipe for ravioli, even though ravioli did not originate in England.

Modern cookbooks

With the advent of the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

in the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous books were written on how to manage households and prepare food. In Holland and England competition grew between the noble families as to who could prepare the most lavish banquet. By the 1660s, cookery had progressed to an art form and good cooks were in demand. Many of them published their own books detailing their recipes in competition with their rivals. Many of these books have now been translated and are available online. By the 19th century, the Victorian preoccupation for domestic respectability brought about the emergence of cookery writing in its modern form. In 1796, the first known American cookbook titled, ''

American Cookery ''American Cookery'', by Amelia Simmons, is the first known cookbook written by an American, published in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1796. Until then, the cookbooks printed and used in the Thirteen Colonies were British. Its full title is: ''Am ...

'', written by Amelia Simmons, was published in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

. Until then, the cookbooks printed and used in the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centu ...

were British. The first modern cookery writer and compiler of recipes for the home was

Eliza Acton Eliza Acton (17 April 1799 – 13 February 1859) was an English food writer and poet who produced one of Britain's first cookery books aimed at the domestic reader, '' Modern Cookery for Private Families''. The book introduced the now-un ...

. Her pioneering cookbook, '' Modern Cookery for Private Families'' (1845), was aimed at the domestic reader rather than the professional cook or chef. This was an immensely influential book, and it established the format for modern writing about cookery. The publication introduced the now-universal practice of listing the ingredients and suggested cooking times with each recipe. It included the first recipe for

Brussels sprouts The Brussels sprout is a member of the Gemmifera cultivar group of cabbages (''Brassica oleracea''), grown for its edible buds. The leaf vegetables are typically 1.5–4.0 cm (0.6–1.6 in) in diameter and resemble miniature cabbag ...

. Contemporary chef Delia Smith is quoted as having called Acton "the best writer of recipes in the English language". ''Modern Cookery'' long survived her, remaining in print until 1914 and available more recently in facsimile reprint. Acton's work was an important influence on

Isabella Beeton Isabella Mary Beeton ( Mayson; 14 March 1836 – 6 February 1865), known as Mrs Beeton, was an English journalist, editor and writer. Her name is particularly associated with her first book, the 1861 work '' Mrs Beeton's Book of Household ...

, who published ''

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management ''Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management'', also published as ''Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book'', is an extensive guide to running a household in Victorian Britain, edited by Isabella Beeton and first published as a book in 1861. Previously p ...

'' in 24 monthly parts between 1857 and 1861. The book was a guide to running a Victorian household, with advice on fashion,

child care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

, poisons, the management of servants, science, religion, and industrialism. Despite its title, most of the text consisted of recipes, such that another popular name for the volume is ''Mrs Beeton's Cookbook''. Most of the recipes were illustrated with coloured engravings, and it was the first book to show recipes in a format that is still used today. Many of the recipes were plagiarised from earlier writers, including Acton. In 1885 the ''Virginia Cookery Book'' was published by

Mary Stuart Smith Mary Stuart Harrison Smith (February 10, 1834 – December 8, 1917) was an American author, translator, and women's advocate. Her ''Virginia Cookery Book'' (1885) is one of the country's early modern cookbooks. In addition to other origina ...

. In 1896 the American cook Fannie Farmer (1857–1915) published ''

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book The ''Boston Cooking-School Cook Book'' (1896) by Fannie Farmer is a 19th-century general reference cookbook which is still available both in reprint and in updated form. It was particularly notable for a more rigorous approach to recipe writing ...

'' which contained some 1,849 recipes.

Types of cookbooks

Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls

Cookbooks that serve as basic kitchen references (sometimes known as "kitchen bibles") began to appear in the early modern period. They provided not just recipes but overall instruction for both kitchen technique and household management. Such books were written primarily for housewives and occasionally domestic servants as opposed to professional cooks, and at times books such as ''

The Joy of Cooking ''Joy of Cooking'', often known as "''The Joy of Cooking''", is one of the United States' most-published cookbooks. It has been in print continuously since 1936 and has sold more than 20 million copies. It was published privately during 1931 b ...

'' ( USA), '' La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange'' (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

), ''The

Art of Cookery ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'' is a cookbook by Hannah Glasse (1708–1770) first published in 1747. It was a bestseller for a century after its first publication, dominating the English-speaking market and making Glasse one of the ...

'' ( UK, USA), ''

Il cucchiaio d'argento ''Il cucchiaio d'argento'' (), or ''The Silver Spoon'' in English, is a major Italian cookbook and kitchen reference work originally published in 1950 by the design and architecture magazine ''Domus''. It contains about 2000 recipes drawn from all ...

'' (

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

), and ''

A Gift to Young Housewives ''A Gift to Young Housewives'' ( rus, Пода́рок молоды́м хозя́йкам, r=Podarok molodym khozyaykam) is a Russian cookbook written and compiled by Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets (née Burman; ) and usually referred to as "Molokhov ...

'' (

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

) have served as references of record for national cuisines. Cookbook also tell stories of the writers themselves and reflect upon the era in which they are written. They often reveal notions of social, political, environmental or economic contexts. For example, during the era of industrialization, convenience foods were brought into many households and were integrated and present in cookbooks written in this time. Related to this class are instructional cookbooks, which combine recipes with in-depth, step-by-step recipes to teach beginning cooks basic concepts and techniques. In vernacular literature, people may collect traditional recipes in

family cookbooks Family cookbooks are books which contain a variety of recipes collected by specific families. Whilst these cookbooks are sometimes later published, the concept is of a commonplace book where useful recipes are retained and passed on to later generat ...

. While western cookbooks usually group recipes for main courses by the main ingredient of the dishes, Japanese cookbooks usually group them by cooking techniques (e.g., fried foods,

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...

ed foods, and grilled foods). Both styles of cookbook have additional recipe groupings such as

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling soli ...

s or

sweets Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

International and ethnic

International and ethnic cookbooks fall into two categories: the kitchen references of other cultures, translated into other languages; and books translating the recipes of another culture into the languages, techniques, and ingredients of a new audience. The latter style often doubles as a sort of culinary travelogue, giving background and context to a recipe that the first type of book would assume its audience is already familiar with. Popular Puerto Rican cookbook, Cocina Criolla, written by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli, includes recipes that are typically of traditional Puerto Rican cuisine such as mofongo and pasteles. Valldejuli's cookbook was not only important to Puerto Ricans, but also very popular in the United States where her original cookbook has since been published in several editions, including English versions. These include The Art of Caribbean Cookery - Doubleday, 1957; Puerto Rican Cookery - Pelican Publishing, 1983; and, Juntos en la Cocina (co-authored with her husband, Luis F. Valldejuli) - Pelican Publishing, 1986.

Professional cookbooks

Professional cookbooks are designed for the use of working chefs and culinary students and sometimes double as textbooks for culinary schools. Such books deal not only in recipes and techniques, but often service and kitchen workflow matters. Many such books deal in substantially larger quantities than home cookbooks, such as making sauces by the liter or preparing dishes for large numbers of people in a

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major servi ...

setting. While the most famous of such books today are books like ''

Le guide culinaire ''Le Guide Culinaire'' () is Escoffier's 1903 French restaurant cuisine cookbook, his first. It is a classic and still in print. Escoffier developed the recipes while working at the Savoy, Ritz and Carlton hotels from the late 1880s to the time ...

'' by

Escoffier Georges Auguste Escoffier (; 28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Antoi ...

or ''The Professional Chef'' by the

Culinary Institute of America Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

, such books go at least back to medieval times, represented then by works such as Taillevent's '' Viandier'' and Chiquart d'Amiço's ''Du fait de cuisine''.

Single-subject

Single-subject books, usually dealing with a specific ingredient, technique, class of dishes or target group (e.g. for kids), are quite common as well.

Jack Monroe Jack Monroe (born 17 March 1988) is a British food writer, journalist and activist known for campaigning on poverty issues, particularly hunger relief. She initially rose to prominence by writing a blog titled ''A Girl Called Jack'' (now r ...

for example features low budget recipes. Some imprints such as

Chronicle Books Chronicle Books is a San Francisco-based American publisher of books for adults and children. The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publisher of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' ...

have specialized in this sort of book, with books on dishes like

curries A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradi ...

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, on ...

, and simplified ethnic food. Popular subjects for narrow-subject books on technique include

grilling Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat a ...

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...

baking Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred " ...

outdoor cooking Outdoor cooking is the preparation of food in the outdoors. A significant body of techniques and specialized equipment exists for it, traditionally associated with nomadic cultures such as the Berbers of North Africa, the Arab Bedouins, the Pl ...

, and even recipe cloning (Recipe cloning is copying commercial recipes where the original is a

trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily ...

Community

Community cookbooks (also known as compiled, regional, charitable, and fund-raising cookbooks) are a unique genre of culinary literature. Community cookbooks focus on home cooking, often documenting regional, ethnic, family, and societal traditions, as well as local history.

Sondra Gotlieb Sondra Gotlieb (née Kaufman; 30 December 1936 in Winnipeg, Manitoba)Sondra Gotlieb
i ...

, for example, wrote her cookbooks on Canadian food culture by visiting people and homes by region. She gathered recipes, observed the foodways, observed the people and their traditions of each region by being in their own homes. Gotlieb did this so that she could put together a comprehensive cookbook based on the communities and individuals that make up Canada.

Gooseberry Patch Gooseberry Patch is an American company that publishes cookbooks. It was founded in 1984 by Vickie Hutchins and Jo Ann Martin, who were neighbors in Delaware, Ohio, as a mail-order recipe catalog "selling old-fashioned, country-style products." ...

has been publishing community-style cookbooks since 1992 and built their brand on this community. Community cookbooks have sometimes been created to offer a counter-narrative of historical events or sustain a community through difficult times. ''The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro'', published in 1958 by the

National Council of Negro Women The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the f ...

, includes recipes that illuminate histories of Black resistance, including "

Nat Turner Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831.Schwarz, Frederic D.1831 Nat Turner's Rebellion" ''American Heri ...

Crackling Bread." The 1976 ''People's Philadelphia Cookbook'', published by grassroots organization The People's Fund, includes recipes from members of the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...

, The United Farm Workers, and the Gay Activist Alliance of Philadelphia. For ''In Memory's Kitchen'', written in the 1940s by Jewish women interned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, women drew on their memories to contribute recipes.

Chefs

Cookbooks can also document the food of a specific chef (particularly in conjunction with a

cooking show A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a studio set, or at the host's personal home. Typ ...

) or restaurant. Many of these books, particularly those written by or for a well-established cook with a long-running TV show or popular restaurant, become part of extended series of books that can be released over the course of many years. Popular chef-authors throughout history include people such as Delia Smith,

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...

Nigella Lawson Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook. She attended Godolphin and Latymer School, London. After graduating from the University of Oxford, where she was a member of Lady Margaret Hall, Lawson st ...

, Edouard de Pomiane, Jeff Smith,

Emeril Lagasse Emeril John Lagassé III ( ; born October 15, 1959) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, cookbook author, and National Best Recipe award winner for his "Turkey and Hot Sausage Chili" recipe in 2003. He is a regi ...

Claudia Roden Claudia Roden (née Douek; born 1936) is an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/ Mizrahi descent. She is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including ''A Book of Middle Eastern Food'' ...

Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey CBE (née Bahadur; born 13 August 1933) is an Indian-British-American actress, food and travel writer, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing Indian cuisine to the western hemisphere with her debut cookbook ...

Katsuyo Kobayashi was a Japanese celebrity chef, food writer, and founder/leader of the charity "Kagurazaka Women's Choir". Biography Katsuyo Kobayashi was born in Osaka in 1937. A graduate of Tezukayama Gakuin College, she became a homemaker after marriage. W ...

, and possibly even

, the semi-pseudonymous author of the Roman cookbook De re coquinaria, who shared a name with at least one other famous food figure of the ancient world.

Famous cookbooks

Famous cookbooks from the past, in chronological order, include: *'' De re coquinaria (The Art of Cooking)'' (late 4th / early 5th century) by

*''Kitab al-Tabikh'' (''The Book of Dishes'') (10th century) by

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq ( ar, أبو محمد المظفر بن نصر ابن سيار الوراق) was an Arab author from Baghdad. He was the compiler of a tenth-century cookbook, the ( ar, links=no, كتاب الطبيخ, ''The Book of Dishes''). This is the earlies ...

*''Kitab al-Tabikh'' (''The Book of Dishes'') (1226) by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi *''

Liber de Coquina The ''Liber de Coquina'' ("The book of cooking/cookery") is one of the oldest medieval cookbooks. Two codices that contain the work survive from the beginning of the 14th century. Both are preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France ...

(The Book of Cookery)'' (late 13th / early 14th century) by two unknown authors from France and Italy *'' Forme of Cury'' (14th century) by the Master Cooks of King Richard II of England *''Viandier'' (14th century) by Guillaume Tirel alias Taillevent *''De honesta voluptate et valetudine'' (1475) by

Bartolomeo Platina Bartolomeo Sacchi (; 1421 – 21 September 1481), known as Platina (in Italian ''il Platina'' ) after his birthplace (Piadena), and commonly referred to in English as Bartolomeo Platina, was an Italian Renaissance humanist writer and gastro ...

- the first cookbook printed in a native language (Italian) in 1487 *''Cookbook of Infanta Maria of Portugal'' (c. 1565) - the oldest extant Portuguese cookbook * ''

The Good Huswifes Jewell ''The Good Huswifes Jewell'' is an English cookery book by the cookery and housekeeping writer Thomas Dawson, first published in 1585. It includes recipes for medicines as well as food. To the spices found in Medieval English cooking, the book ...

'' (1585) by Thomas Dawson * ''

The English Huswife ''The English Huswife'' is a book of English cookery and remedies by Gervase Markham, first published in London by Roger Jackson in 1615. Markham's best-known work, it was a bestseller of its time, going through nine editions, and at least two ...

'' (1615) by

Gervase Markham Gervase (or Jervis) Markham (ca. 1568 – 3 February 1637) was an English poet and writer. He was best known for his work '' The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman'', first publishe ...

*''Arte de Cocina, Pastelaria, Vizcocheria e Conservaria'' by Francisco Martinez Montiño - palace cook of King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

(1680). *'' The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Knight Opened'' by Kenelm Digby (1669) *'' Eumsik dimibang'' (1670) by Jang Gye-hyang of

Andong Andong () is a city in South Korea, and the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. It is the largest city in the northern part of the province with a population of 167,821 as of October 2010. The Nakdong River flows through the city. Andong is a ...

Jang clan *''Arte de Cozinha'' by Domingos Rodrigues - the first cookbook printed in Portuguese (1680) *'' Compendium ferculorum, albo Zebranie potraw'' by Stanisław Czerniecki – first cookbook in Polish (1682) *'' The Compleat Housewife'' (first American edition 1742) by

Eliza Smith Eliza Smith (died 1732?) was one of the most popular female 18th-century cookery book writers. Unlike other popular woman cookbook authors whose books overlapped with hers, such as Hannah Glasse Hannah Glasse (; March 1708 – 1 September ...

*'' The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy'' (1747) by

Hannah Glasse Hannah Glasse (; March 1708 – 1 September 1770) was an English cookery writer of the 18th century. Her first cookery book, ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'', published in 1747, became the best-selling recipe book that century. It w ...

*''Hjelpreda I Hushållningen För Unga Fruentimber'' (1755) by Cajsa Warg *'' The Experienced English Housekeeper'' (1769) by Elizabeth Raffald *''

'' (1796) by Amelia Simmons *'' A New System of Domestic Cookery'' (1806) by

Maria Eliza Rundell Maria Eliza Rundell (née Ketelby; 1745 – 16 December 1828) was an English writer. Little is known about most of her life, but in 1805, when she was over 60, she sent an unedited collection of recipes and household advice to John Murray, of ...

*'' Le Cuisinier Royal'' (1817) by

André Viard André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variat ...

*'' Modern Cookery for Private Families'' (1845) by

*''El Cocinero Puerto - Riqueño 1859 (author unknown) *''

'' (1861) by

Mrs Beeton Isabella Mary Beeton ( Mayson; 14 March 1836 – 6 February 1865), known as Mrs Beeton, was an English journalist, editor and writer. Her name is particularly associated with her first book, the 1861 work ''Mrs Beeton's Book of Household ...

*''Подарок молодым хозяйкам'', ''

'' (first Russian edition 1861) by Elena Molokhovets *''Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen'' (1866) by

Malinda Russell Malinda Russell (ca. 1812 – ?) was a free black woman from Tennessee who earned her living as a cook and published the first known cookbook by a black woman in the United States. The book is historically significant, as it shows that black Sout ...

– first known cookbook by an African American woman *'' La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene'' (1891) by

Pellegrino Artusi Pellegrino Artusi (; Forlimpopoli, near Forlì, August 4, 1820 – Florence, March 30, 1911) was an Italian businessman and writer, best known as the author of the 1891 cookbook '' La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene'' ("Science in ...

*''The Epicurean'' (1894) by Charles Ranhofer *''The

Boston Cooking-School Cook Book The ''Boston Cooking-School Cook Book'' (1896) by Fannie Farmer is a 19th-century general reference cookbook which is still available both in reprint and in updated form. It was particularly notable for a more rigorous approach to recipe writing ...

'' (1896) by

Fannie Merritt Farmer Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 March 1857 – 16 January 1915) was an American culinary expert whose ''Boston Cooking-School Cook Book'' became a widely used culinary text. Education Fannie Farmer was born on 23 March 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, ...

*''The Settlement Cook Book'' (1901) and 34 subsequent editions by Lizzie Black Kander *'' The Cook's Decameron: A Study In Taste, Containing Over Two Hundred Recipes For Italian Dishes'' (1901) by Mrs. W.G. Waters *Various cookbooks (between 1903 and 1934) by

Auguste Escoffier Georges Auguste Escoffier (; 28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Antoi ...

*''

Edmonds Cookery Book The ''Edmonds Cookery Book'' is a recipe book focusing on traditional New Zealand cuisine. It was first published as ''The Sure to Rise Cookery Book'' in 1908 as a marketing tool by baking powder manufacturer Thomas Edmonds (today part of Goodm ...

'' (1908) by T.J. Edmonds Ltd *''

'' (1931) by

Irma Rombauer Irma S. Rombauer (October 30, 1877 – October 14, 1962) was an American cookbook author, best known for ''The Joy of Cooking'' (1931), one of the world's most widely read cookbooks. Following Irma Rombauer's death, periodic revisions of the book ...

*'' Larousse Gastronomique'' (1938) *''Книга о вкусной и здоровой пище'', '' The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food'' (first Soviet edition 1939) by the Institute of Nutrition, USSR *''O Livro de Pantagruel'' (first edition 1946) by Bertha Rosa-Limpo *'' A Book of Mediterranean Food'' (1950) by

Elizabeth David Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and bo ...

*''

'' (1950) *''The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook'' (1954) by Alice B. Toklas *''Cooking with the Chinese Flavor'' (1956) and subsequent books by Lin Tsuifeng ("Mrs.

Lin Yutang Lin Yutang ( ; October 10, 1895 – March 26, 1976) was a Chinese inventor, linguist, novelist, philosopher, and translator. His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generati ...

") *''Mrs Balbir Singh's Indian Cookery'' (1961) by Mrs Balbir Singh *''

Mastering the Art of French Cooking ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both from France, and Julia Child, who was from the United States. The book was written for the American market and publishe ...

'' (1961) by

*'' Ten Talents'' (1968) by Rosalie Hurd *''Helen Gurley Brown's Single Girl's Cookbook'' (1969) by Helen Gurley Brown * The ''Fanny and Johnnie Cradock Cookery Programme'' (1970) by Fanny and Johnnie Cradock *'' Diet for a Small Planet'' (1971) by Frances Moore Lappé *'' The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook'' (1975) by Louise Hagler *''The Complete International Jewish Cookbook'' (1976) by Evelyn Rose *''

Moosewood Cookbook ''The Moosewood Cookbook'' (1977) is a vegetarian cookbook by Mollie Katzen that was published by Ten Speed Press. It is a revised version of a 1974 self-published cookbook by members of the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York. History S ...

'' (1978) by Mollie Katzen *'' Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book'' (1980) by Maryanne Blacker and Pamela Clark

Collections and collectors

Several libraries have extensive collections of cookbooks. * Harvard's Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America has a collection of 20,000 cookbooks and other books on food, including the earliest American cookbook, and the personal collections and papers of

, M.F.K. Fisher, and the authors of ''

''. * New York University's Fales Library includes a Food and Cookery Collection of over 15,000 books, including the personal libraries of

Cecily Brownstone Cecily Brownstone (18 April 1909 – 30 August 2005), was a food writer, who wrote several cookbooks and articles about food over a period of 39 years. Canadian-born, Brownstone was the Associated Press Food Editor from 1947 to 1986—for t ...

, and Dalia Carmel. * The

Brotherton Library The Brotherton Library is a 1936 Grade II listed Beaux-Arts building with some art deco fittings, located on the main campus of the University of Leeds. It was designed by the firm of Lanchester & Lodge, and is named after Edward Brotherton, ...

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

holds a Designated Cookery Collection of over 8,000 books and 75 manuscripts, including the personal collections of Blanche Leigh, John Preston and Michael Bateman. Some individuals are notable for their collections of cookbooks, or their scholarly interest therein.

Elizabeth Robins Pennell Elizabeth Robins Pennell (February 21, 1855 – February 7, 1936) was an American writer who, for most of her adult life, made her home in London. A recent researcher summed her up as "an adventurous, accomplished, self-assured, well-known colum ...

, an American critic in London from the 1880s, was an early writer on the subject, and has recently been called "one of the most well-known cookbook collectors in the world". Much of her collection eventually went to the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

. Held alongside hers are the thousands of gastronomic volumes donated by food chemist Katherine Bitting; their collections were evaluated in tandem in ''Two Loaf-Givers'', by one of the LOC's curators; a digital version is available.

Usage outside the world of food

The term ''cookbook'' is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to any book containing a straightforward set of already tried and tested "

s" or instructions for a specific field or activity, presented in detail so that the users who are not necessarily expert in the field can produce workable results. Examples include a set of circuit designs in

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, a book of magic spells, or '' The Anarchist Cookbook'', a set of instructions on destruction and living outside the law.

O'Reilly Media O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates) is an American learning company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books, produces tech conferences, and provides an online learning platform. Its distinctive brand features a woodcut of ...

publishes a series of books about

computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...

named the Cookbook series, and each of these books contain hundreds of ready to use, cut and paste examples to solve a specific problem in a single

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

Notes

References

*Adamson, Melitta Weiss ''Food in Medieval Times.'' Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. 2004. *''Food in the Middle Ages: A Book of Essays.'' Melitta Weiss Adamson (editor). Garland, New York. 1995. *''Regional Cuisines of Medieval Europe: A Book of Essays.'' edited by Melitta Weiss Adamson (editor). Routledge, New York. 2002. *
What's the Recipe? - Our hunger for cookbooks.
Adam Gopnik, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', 2009.

External links

* The Wikibooks' open-content cookbook anyone can edit
Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive
- a learning resource on the history of cookery books from the British Library
Baby food cookbooksFeeding America at Michigan State University Digital Library
��a collection of influential early American cookbooks, including a large number of books specializing in immigrant cuisine
Home Economics (including cookbooks) at Project GutenbergMenus and Cookbooks at The New York Public Library
{{Authority control Food-related literary genres *