From "Take a Thousand Eggs or More", a collection of 15th century recipes from Cindy Renfrow, to "Feed the Brute!", authored by Marjorie Swift and published in London in 1925 to "Axis of Evil Cookbook" by Gil Partington, published in 2007, one doesn't necessarily have to be engaged in 'food' to appreciate the historical significance of food writing.

 

I also collect cookbooks of particular interest to me for a variety of reasons.  Some are unusual, such as "Please Feed Me - a Punk Vegan Cookbook" by Niall McGuirk, or "Mankafy Sakafo - Delicious Meals from Madagascar", by Jill A. Donenfield.  Among the cookbooks at The Vintage Cookbookery are cookbooks from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and just about everything in between, including "The New Icelandic Cookbook" by Atli Vagnsson.

 

"Russian Regional Recipes", by Susan Ward, published in 1993 is an interesting cookbook on several levels.  I was fascinated to read a recipe in her cookbook for Marinated Mushrooms, in which she advised the readers that '...some of the enthusiasm for wild mushrooms is now tempered with fear, since fungi - particularly the thick-stalked cep or bolelus...have been shown to be severely contaminated by the fallout from Chernobyl'.  This is truly history in a time capsule - the cookbook.  What does it tell other generations about our culture and societal history?

 

Read on and learn a little about the diversity of cooking and it's history and enjoy!