A brief History of the Cookbook
Most households have at least a few cookbooks: perhaps some have been passed down through generations; perhaps others, more recent, cater to the various dietary needs and restrictions in the household. Cookbooks are a familiar sight, but what do we really know about their history?
One of the most famous early cookbooks dates back to the 2nd century BCE. It is called the Deipnosophistai (“The Learned Banquet”) and is a treatise on food and food preparation written by Athenaeus, a Greek gourmet. This was however not the earliest cookbook by any means. That honor goes to the Yale Culinary Tablets, three of which date back to 1730 B.C. They are from the Mesopotamian region, or what is today Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. In fact, much of what we eat today was cultivated or domesticated in that region. The tablets provide recipes for more than two dozen Mesopotamian dishes, such as stews of pigeon, lamb or spleen (A team of international scholars set out to recreate three of the r…
Voir Plus
about A brief History of the Cookbook