Cookbook | Definition & History (2024)

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Also known as: cookery book

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Key People:
Paula Deen
Martha Stewart
Julia Child
Mario Batali
Gordon Ramsay
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cookbook, collection of recipes, instructions, and information about the preparation and serving of foods. At its best, a cookbook is also a chronicle and treasury of the fine art of cooking, an art whose masterpieces—created only to be consumed—would otherwise be lost.

Cookbooks have been written in almost every literate society. One of the most famous of the early ones is the Deipnosophistai (“The Learned Banquet”), a treatise on food and food preparation written in the 2nd century bce by Athenaeus, a Greek gourmet. The treatise is presented in the form of a dialogue between two banqueters, who talk for days and relate recipes for dishes such as stuffed vine leaves and several varieties of cheesecake. Athenaeus was by no means the earliest Greek writer on cooking; he mentions more than 20 authors who preceded him, one of whom, Archestratus, produced his masterpiece, Hēdypatheia (“Pleasant Living”), in 350 bce.

Another famous gourmet of the ancient world was Apicius, a wealthy Roman merchant of the reign of Tiberius (14–37 ce). Apicius’s colossal banquets eventually drove him to bankruptcy and suicide, but he left behind a cookbook so prized that it has been preserved, in numerous editions, down to the 20th century.

The gastronomy of early China is preserved in a number of treatises, one of the most interesting of which is called The Important Things to Know About Eating and Drinking, by Huou, master chef of the imperial court of Kublai Khan (1215–94). Huou’s collection consists largely of recipes for soups, but it is also a useful encyclopaedia of household information.

Medieval Europe also produced cookbooks. Among the earliest in English was The Form of Cury (the word cury is an obsolete term for cooked food), compiled in the 12th century. It consists of 196 recipes, many of which reveal their French origin in names such as “Blank Manng” and “Payn Fondewe.” One of the first French books, called La Ménagier de Paris, was published in 1394 and contained recipes for such delicacies as frogs and snails.

The printing press revolutionized the culinary arts by making cookbooks widely available. The first known to have been printed, in 1485, was produced by an Italian, Bartolema Scappi, who mainly recorded recipes for marzipans and other sweets.

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Cookbooks proliferated as the rising middle classes gained interest in better food preparation. The first cookbook written by a woman was Hannah Wooley’s The Queen-like Closet; or Rich Cabinet, published in 1670. The secrets of French cuisine were made available to a wide public by the cookbooks of great chefs like Alexis Soyer of the mid-19th century, whose Shilling Cookery for the People sold more than 100,000 copies. One of the most successful and popular cookbooks of all time was produced in the United States in 1896, when Fannie Merritt Farmer took on the editorship of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Farmer was the first to standardize the methods and measurements of her recipes, assuring reliable results to her readers.

The 20th and early 21st centuries witnessed a prodigious burst of interest in cookery, including thousands of national or regional specialty dishes that were previously unknown outside their own countries or areas. Some well-known cookbooks published during this time included Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 2 vol. (1961, 1970), by American cook Julia Child and French cooks Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle; James Beard’s American Cookery (1972), by American culinary expert James Beard; and Gordon Ramsay’s Passion for Flavour (1996), by Scottish chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay.

Cookbooks have become a mainstay of the publishing world, with scores produced annually by amateur and professional chefs, cooking schools, and the food departments of the major food producers and popular magazines.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Kara Rogers.

Cookbook | Definition & History (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of the cookbook? ›

The first recorded cookbook is said to be four clay tablets from 1700 BC in Ancient Mesopotamia, but by the 1300s, cookbooks were a norm for kings and nobles. In 1390, Forme of Cury (The Rules of Cookery) was published for–but not by–King Richard II.

What is the oldest cookbook still in print? ›

The first recorded cookbook that is still in print today is Of Culinary Matters (originally, De Re Coquinaria), written by Apicius, in fourth century AD Rome. It contains more than 500 recipes, including many with Indian spices.

Who was the first person to write a cookbook? ›

An early version was first compiled sometime in the 1st century and has often been attributed to the Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius, though this has been cast in doubt by modern research.

What is the significance of cookbook? ›

The cookbook shares food and memories to others who may find joy in them too. They act as recipe banks too. It is easy to forget food eaten by generations past. Books preserve these cultural pieces, which are important factors of history, and agricultural fragments that define a country's rich landscape.

Who wrote the first cookbook in America? ›

American Cookery, the very first American cookbook, was written by Amelia Simmons (more on this mysterious woman later). In it, she promised local food and a kind of socioculinary equality. The title page stated that the recipes were "adapted to this country and all grades of life."

What is the purpose of a cookbook? ›

cookbook, collection of recipes, instructions, and information about the preparation and serving of foods. At its best, a cookbook is also a chronicle and treasury of the fine art of cooking, an art whose masterpieces—created only to be consumed—would otherwise be lost.

What is the world's oldest cookbook? ›

The oldest cookbook in the world is the Yale Culinary Tablets. These three stone slabs dating back to Mesopotamia circa 1700 B.C. represent the oldest known recipe-making in world history. They show in detail how these ancient people ate bread, soups, roasts, and even cake.

Who was the youngest person to publish a cookbook? ›

Justin Miller (USA, b. 10 Janurary 1990) was aged seven when his cookbook "Cooking with Justin: Recipes for Kids (And Parents)" was published in 1997.

What is the origin of cook the books? ›

Origin of the Phrase Cook the Books

The term “cook” has been used colloquially in various languages to mean “falsify” or “manipulate” since at least the 17th century. “Cooking the books” draws a parallel between the alteration of ingredients in cooking and the alteration of entries in accounting books.

What is the history of written recipes? ›

The earliest known written recipes date to 1730 BC and were recorded on cuneiform tablets found in Mesopotamia. Other early written recipes date from approximately 1600 BC and come from an Akkadian tablet from southern Babylonia. There are also works in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting the preparation of food.

What is the history of the anarchist cookbook? ›

The Anarchist Cookbook was written by William Powell as a teenager and first published in January 1971 at the apex of the counterculture era to protest against United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Powell gained inspiration for his text from his experiences with Vietnam veterans while living in New York City, ...

What is the history of the White House cookbook? ›

First published in 1887, this book proved enormously popular and stayed in print for decades (each new edition featuring a frontispiece portrait of the current First Lady). Co-author Hugo Ziemann served as steward in the White House, providing the book its title, but Mrs.

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