The Cookbook Library: Four Centuries of the Cooks, Writers, and Recipes That Made the Modern CookbookHardcover (2024)

FAQs

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.

Irma Rombauer self-published the first Joy of Cooking in 1931. In 1936, the first commercial edition was published by Bobbs-Merrill. Marion Rombauer Becker, Irma's daughter, helped revise and update each subsequent edition until 1951.

The earliest collection of recipes that has survived in Europe is De re coquinaria, written in Latin. 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.

Malinda Russell (ca. 1812 – ?) was a free black woman from Tennessee who earned her living as a cook and published the first known cookbook by a black woman in the United States.

Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer (1931) – approx. 18 million copies.

"Cookbooks can have auction potential, especially if they are rare, valuable, or have historical significance," said Sawyer, who's based in New York City. "Some vintage cookbooks can fetch high prices at auction, particularly those that are in excellent condition and have a strong provenance."

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.

The oldest cooking BOOK, attributed to Apicius, came out in approximately the 4th century (AD). That book was called De Re Culinaria (On the Subject of Cooking).

Morris Press Cookbooks is the nation's largest cookbook publisher and cookbook fundraiser.

American Cookery, published by the “orphan” Amelia Simmons in 1796, was the first cookbook by an American to be published in the United States. Its 47 pages (in the first edition) contained fine recipes for roasts—stuffed goose, stuffed leg of veal, roast lamb. There were stews, too, and all manner of pies.

Where was the first American cookbook made? ›

American Cookery, by Amelia Simmons, is the first known cookbook written by an American, published in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1796. Until then, the cookbooks printed and used in the Thirteen Colonies were British.

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."

Lena Richard was the first African American chef to star on TV, with her show 'Lena Richard's New Orleans Cookbook'. She pioneered the way for Black women in food TV, helping to break down stereotypes and build an entire empire to promote Creole cuisine.

Mariya Russell, Illinois. This Ohio native chef found her passion for cooking at the young age of 14. Since then, Mariya Russell's love for food led her to receive a Michelin Star in 2019. That made her the first African-American woman to do so.

French Cornbread from 87. This book contains five secret cornbread recipes. believed to be the lost sacred texts of Nebraska.

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.

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.

The world's oldest surviving cookbook isn't a book at all—it's a set of ancient Babylonian tablets from around 1700 BCE, which doesn't so much have recipes as explanations of certain dishes, such as a 'clear broth' that begins with steps like “meat is used” and “prepare water,” as Atlas Obscura reported from the Yale ...