Claim: Eliza Smith was the first cookbook author published in colonial America , one of the most popular cookbook writers in the 18th century and wrote The Compleat Housewife, which was first published in London in 1727.
Evidence: The Compleat Housewife, or, Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion is a cookery book written by Eliza Smith and first published in London in 1727. Her one book, The Compleat Housewife, or, Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion (London: J. Pemberton, 1727), went through 18 editions in Britain and in 1742 Smith became the first cookbook author published in colonial America. Patrick Spedding, in Script & Print, notes that the book was very popular in the eighteenth century, with 20 London editions in fifty years.