''Vegetable Cookery: With an Introduction, Recommending Abstinence from Animal Food and Intoxicating Liquors'' is the first

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

cookbook, authored anonymously by Martha Brotherton (1783–1861) of

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. It was first published as ''A New System of Vegetable Cookery'' in periodical form in 1812.Antrobus, Derek. (1997). ''A Guiltless Feast: The Salford Bible Christian Church and the Rise of the Modern Vegetarian Movement''. City of Salford Education and Leisure. p. 72. A second book edition appeared in 1821 and a third was published by Horatio Phillips of London in 1829 under its best known title ''Vegetable Cookery''. The first edition was published anonymously by a "member of the

Bible Christian Church The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist denomination founded by William O’Bryan, a Wesleyan Methodist local preacher, on 18 October 1815 in North Cornwall. The first society, consisting of just 22 members, met at Lake Farm in Shebbea ...

". The fourth edition published in 1833 by

Effingham Wilson Effingham William Wilson (28 September 1785 – 9 June 1868) was a 19th-century English radical publisher and bookseller. His main interests were in economics and politics, but he also published poetry. Early life Wilson was born at Ravens ...

, contained 1,261 recipes and was also published anonymously "by a lady". Martha's husband

Joseph Brotherton Joseph Brotherton (22 May 1783 – 7 January 1857) was a reforming British politician, Nonconformist minister and pioneering vegetarian. He has been described as the first vegetarian member of parliament. Biography He was born in Whittingto ...

wrote the introduction for the book. Two further editions appeared in 1839 and 1852. The 1852 edition contains a foreword by James Simpson, the first president of the

Vegetarian Society The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom is a British registered charity which was established on 30 September 1847 to promote vegetarianism. History In the 19th century a number of groups in Britain actively promoted and followed meat ...

. It was the first published vegetarian cookbook.Phelps, Norm. (2007). ''The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA''. Lantern Books. p. 149. Martha and Joseph Brotherton were leading members of William Cowherd's

. The recipes are

ovo-lacto vegetarian Lacto-ovo vegetarianism or ovo-lacto vegetarianism is a type of vegetarianism which forbids animal flesh but allows the consumption of animal products such as dairy and eggs. Unlike pescetarianism, it does not include fish or other seafood. A ...

. Many of the recipes involve copious amounts of

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condimen ...

. Historians have noted that "Brotherton's book served as a guide for Americans who began to self-identify as vegetarian in the early decades of the nineteenth century." Kathryn Gleadle has written that the book "was enormously important to the movement, forming the basis of most subsequent works on vegetable cookery."Gleadle, Kathryn. ''The Age of Physiological Reformers: Rethinking Gender and Domesticity in the Age of Reform''. In Arthur Burns, Joanna Innes. (2003). ''Rethinking the Age of Reform: Britain 1780-1850''. Cambridge University Press. p. 216.

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External links

*'' Vegetable Cookery: With an Introduction, Recommending Abstinence from Animal Food and Intoxicating Liquors'' (1833 edition) {{Vegetarianism, state=collapsed 1812 non-fiction books 1833 non-fiction books 19th-century British cookbooks English non-fiction books Vegetarian cookbooks Works published anonymously