A History of Cookbooks: From Kitchen to Page over Seven Centuries (Volume 64) (California Studies in Food and Culture)

__A History of Cookbooks__ provides a sweeping literary and historical overview of the cookbook genre, exploring its development as a 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. Cover 1 Contents 6 Illustrations 8 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 14 PART ONE. FOOD AND TEXT—COOK AND WRITER 16 Prologue: A Rendezvous 18 1. The Cook 22 2. Writer and Author 43 PART TWO. THE TEXT AND ITS FORM 62 3. The Origin and Early Development of Modern Cookbooks 64 4. Printed Cookbooks: Diffusion, Translation, and Plagiarism 80 5. Organizing the Cookbook 96 6. Naming the Recipes 113 7. Pedagogical and Didactic Approaches 127 8. Paratexts in Cookbooks 145 9. The Recipe Form 159 10. The Cookbook Genre 179 PART THREE. THE TEXT AND ITS WORLD 200 11. Cookbooks for the Rich and the Poor 202 12. Health and Medicine in Cookbooks 216 13. Recipes for Fat Days and Lean Days 228 14. Vegetarian Cookbooks 238 15. Jewish Cookbooks 248 16. Cookbooks and Aspects of Nationalism 260 17. Decoration, Illusion, and Entertainment 279 18. Taste and Pleasure 292 19. Gender in Cookbooks and Household Books 303 Epilogue: Cookbooks and the Future 314 Notes 318 References 368 Index 390 A 390 B 391 C 392 D 392 E 393 F 393 G 394 H 394 I 395 J 395 K 395 L 395 M 396 N 396 O 397 P 397 R 397 S 398 T 399 U 399 V 399 W 399 Z 399 "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. A History of Cookbooks provides a sweeping literary and historical overview of the cookbook genre, exploring its development as a 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. Prologue: a rendez-vous -- The cook -- Writer and author -- Origin and early development of modern cookbooks -- Printed cookbooks: diffusion, translation, and plagiarism -- Organizing the cookbook -- Naming the recipes -- Pedagogical and didactic aspects -- Paratexts in cookbooks -- The recipe form -- The cookbook genre -- Cookbooks for rich and poor -- Health and medicine in cookbooks -- Recipes for fat and lean days -- Vegetarian cookbooks -- Jewish cookbooks -- Cookbooks and aspects of nationalism -- Decoration, illusion, and entertainment -- Taste and pleasure -- Gender in cookbooks and household books -- Epilogue: cookbooks and the future