History of Cookbooks

Cookbooks have entire sections of bookstores dedicated to them and you can even find them at the grocery store checkout, but did you ever wonder how they came to be one of the biggest businesses in the world?

According to Essortment (www.essortment.com), a clay tablet was found in Babylon with what appeared to be ways to prepare a meal. It is believed to be the oldest cookbook. Ancient "cookbooks", those used by the Greeks and Romans were more like conversations between two people who only talked about the food and within that text there could be recipes. The people at Cooks Plate state that the two most important pieces of these ancient cookbooks include one written by Apicius who was a Roman merchant (CE 13-37). He was a wealthy merchant who through outlandish banquets to a point were he went broke. Because of this he committed suicide and the only item he left behind was his cookbook which has been preserved to this day. The other important cookbook was by Huou who was the master chef of Kubla Khan (1215 - 94). This book was mostly about soups, but is also had useful information on household information, the book was entitled "The Important Things to Know about Eating and Drinking".

Up to the eighteen century only the wealthy could have cookbooks, which came from England. The mistress of the home would read aloud to her slaves as they would prepare the meal under her direction. Even medieval Europe had their own form of the cookbook called "The Form of Cury" (Cury is an obsolete word meaning cooked food). It had been complied during the twelfth century and contained 196 recipes. The French would not to be left out, their first cookbook was produced in 1392 and was entitled "La Menagier". The cookbook included recipes for snails and frogs.

The Americas has to wait until the eighteenth century before cookbooks would make their way over. According to Joy of Baking, the first cookbook was in 1742 in Williamsburg, Virginia. But it was only a reprint of the cookbook from England entitled "The Complete Housewife." It was not until 1796 that the first official American cookbook was published. The cookbook entitled "American Cookery" was self-published by Amelia Simmons and included recipes for such ingredients as pumpkin, squash and corn. Originally cookbooks did not have measurements as we know them today, but stated such measurements as a "pinch of this" and a "dash of that".

It was not until 1896 that exact measurements were used. Fannie Merrit Farmer (1857 - 1915) at the Boston Cooking School brought a scientific method to recipes which in turn brought exact measurements to cooking. This form is still used today. Ms Farmer published the first cookbook aptly named "Boston Cooking School Cookbook" which used the exact measurement method. This cookbook has been dubbed the "Bible of the American Kitchen" and Ms. Farmer's work can be seen in very cookbook since her time.

So as you wander through the aisles of cookbooks or see one that attractions your attention in the checkout line, just remember that it is not a new format of book, but a lifetime of work that ends in delicious results.