A history of cookbooks
Subtitle: from kitchen to page over seven centuries
By: Henry Notaker
Series: California studies in food and culture -- 64; California studies in food and culture -- 64.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 384
ISBN-13: 9780520294004
Subjects: Manners and customs in literature; Cookbooks; History
Description: "A History of Cookbooks provides a literary and historical overview of the cookbook genre, exploring its development as an important part of food culture beginning in the Late Middle Ages. Studying cookbooks from various Western cultures and languages, Henry Notaker traces the transformation of recipes from brief notes with ingredients into detailed recipes with a specific structure, grammar, and vocabulary. In addition, he reveals that cookbooks go far beyond offering recipes: they tell us a great deal about nutrition, morals, manners, history, and menus while often providing entertaining reflections and commentaries. This innovative book demonstrates that cookbooks represent an interesting and important branch of nonfiction literature."--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-373) and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue: a rendez-vous; title: The cook; title: Writer and author; title: Origin and early development of modern cookbooks; title: Printed cookbooks: diffusion, translation, and plagiarism; title: Organizing the cookbook; title: Naming the recipes; title: Pedagogical and didactic approaches; title: Paratexts in cookbooks; title: The recipe form; title: The cookbook genre; title: Cookbooks for rich and the poor; title: Health and medicine in cookbooks; title: Recipes for fat and lean days; title: Vegetarian cookbooks; title: Jewish cookbooks; title: Cookbooks and aspects of nationalism; title: Decoration, illusion, and entertainment; title: Taste and pleasure; title: Gender in cookbooks and household books; title: Epilogue: cookbooks and the future.