Examples of proto cookbooks, or any books actually, that existed before 1500 appear as fascinating antiquities when you compare them with the hardbound, two-sided, numbered, indexed, printed paper editions that we’re all familiar with. But in fact the standardized easy to understand modern written languages that you and I take for granted have actually only existed for a few centuries and I’ll address that later in this paper.  Before we discuss how a common language, or the lack of one, affects a culture’s cuisine let’s make a brief survey of book technology and its development over the last few millennia.

The first bound pages are thought to have originated in India where palm leaves were tied together between a front and back cover of wood using some form of cordage that was then wrapper around these boards to secure the contents. In the West clay tablets served the same purpose and many, thanks to the properties of sun-baked clay, remain as historical artifacts. These clay tablets went through a number of manifestations that included wax, lead, bronze, papyrus, parchment, paper and finally the screen you’re reading this on. In antiquity the first three of these materials were framed in wooded covers and acted as ancient notepads to spontaneously record data. This information would then be transcribed to other materials more suited for record preservation and the slates processed by melting, abrasion or recasting so they could be reused. These wood framed slates could be stacked one on top of the other or connected by metal or leather hinges to form a two page rigid document but obviously the device limited the amount of information stored.

Early manuscripts were actually continuous scrolls of papyrus or parchment that had to be unrolled to read. And since there were no page numbers, chapter headings, table of contents or even  titles they were very hard to access and use.  These scrolls where later cut into the more manageable, transportable and easier to store units we know as pages. The earliest books, know as codices or a codex, were simply individual leaves stacked one on top of another wrapped in a simple leather folder. Early papyrus books were sandwiched together by crude boards, wound with cordage to keep the pages flat and in order, and then slipped in the first book bags for storage and transport. Scribes next stabbed two holes through the sides of the folder and the enclosed pages which were then threaded and joined with a length of cordage.

The next phase folded larger pieces of parchment, called signature pages, into double-sided leaves whose inner crease formed a supportive spine, known as a signature, for that group of pages.  Then the folded edges of the signature or page bundle were trimmed so that the still connected pages were freed.  This bundle of folded pages is called a quire, historically four leaves or sixteen two-sided pages, and many early books were only one signature/quire in length.  A simple outer leather covering with straps was used to secure this bundle of pages and this type of binding was prevalent through the fourth century. Myth tells us that early Christians were the first to adopt this codex format because it allowed for the different “books” of the bible to be combined and visibly separated their holy text from that of other religions and the information technology of the oppressive Roman power structure. Between the fourth and the eighth centuries book binders began stitching groups of signatures or quires together across the spine of the book. The new application meant that the number of pages had to be predetermined before the fold and cut were made instead of just randomly writing until you finished your tome. This evolution, known as Coptic binding, made it easier to record, access, store and transport information since both sides of the page were inscribed keeping the codex within manageable dimensions for travel and spreading the gospels of Christianity. Larger texts no longer needed a hundred foot roll of papyrus or parchments while wood covers and leather wrappers extended the usable life of the codex.

Soon leather supports for the stitching of the signatures were added which gave the book more heft and stability. Some of these designs approximated today books while others might only have enclosed a small portion of the book’s spine to protect the exposed stitching. Clasps were next added to hold the book shut and prevent the parchment pages from curling and warping. Wooden covers were enhanced with devices called bosses; small metal or wood studs that were attached to the corners and the middle of the outside covers.  These spacers raised the text off the storage shelve to protect them because books of the period were stored flat on their sides not on standing on their ends.  Titles were also added during this stage of development but they were written on the forefront of the pages not on the covered spines as they are today.

Girdle books were a popular fashion statement of the literate European nobility between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.  This application placed a small book into a soft leather bag with elongated straps that could be knotted around the waist or over a belt …  something like a Medieval fanny pack or Renaissance cutlery holder.  At first girdle books were just ornate prayer books carried by wealthy status conscious noble women for their daily personal absolution’s but as reading became more popular the elite soon began carrying around copies of their favorite novel or poetry collections. From the sixteenth century on regional and national differences in book production and choice of materials evolved.  Wooden boards are being covered in goat, sheep, calf or pig skin leathers and as book technology spread around the Western world manufacturing processes evolved to help satisfy the increased demand for printed books. During this period paste boards, a kind of pressure laminated cardboard, replaced wooded book covers because they required no wood working skills or tools other than a low tech punch and hammer to fabricate a covered text.

Between the seventh and thirtieth centuries books and thought were pretty much limited to points on the spiritual plane and as such the act of fabricating, scribing or illustrating a text was considered one of the most worthy acts of devotion a cleric could muster.  During the early centuries of this period the first exquisite illuminated manuscripts were created in monastic enclosures that preserved and copied current and earlier Greek and Roman texts for posterity. Over one-third of all incunabula {printed manuscripts before 1500} had woodblock prints or illustrations and of course this feature continued for centuries after print technology arrived since there were no cameras.  Many of these books were written in verse form and a majority were just compilations of others writers work that appeared under the compilers name.  Little actual thought was done in these scriptoriums although many of the classic Greek and Latin works we know today were copied and preserved. Errors were rarely corrected by the scribes in the enforced silence of the monastery copying rooms where artificial-ungodly light was forbidden and misinformation, much like today’s web, was the norm.

From the thirtieth to the fiftieth centuries Europe was inundated with information, manuscripts and cultivars brought home by the crusaders from the holy land along with the intellectual and social inoculations that were fermenting in Renaissance Italy.  Pursuit of humanistic enlightenment spurred the demand for books amongst the literate and the students of the new European universities that were being established. This new interest in science and literature was the antecedent for the innovative combination of existing technologies that created movable type and the printing press. From the fiftieth to the sixtieth centuries print shops cranked out copies of the classics, the vulgar bible, personal prayer books and the histories of the saints. From the sixtieth to the seventieth centuries new thoughts were being put into books that made their way into the lives and the thoughts of Europe’s cognoscenti.  These new thoughts and concepts  gradually filtered down to the illiterate urban classes who were often “read to” by the text’s authors in the streets of the larger cities; a common feature and event of the period.

The new literacy led to an increased demand for books that were cheaper than those laboriously cranked out by hand on animal skins. Luckily paper, one of the technologies brought home by the returning Crusaders, sold for about a fifth the price of parchment.  Even though paper was making inroads in Europe in the eyes of many Christians it was a barbarian device of devil worshipers and non believers. But eventually monastic scribes adopted the Arabic paper technology and devised a book production method that utilized various specialists. One station would make covers, one would do binding, one sewing, one scribing, one illustrating and one rubinating until a finished text emerged. The Irish scribes of the middle ages were not as well-educated as their predecessors and in fact many were illiterate. These under educated monks began separating words, instead of running them together in scriptura continua without punctuation, in the seventh century. This effort to make the written word more understandable wouldn’t be widely adopted until the thirteenth century, or later, when the literate elite of the period had begun reading to themselves rather than out loud to a group of enraptured listeners.

Pre Gutenberg stationers and copyist rarely proofread their products and students often copied their own textbooks for a fee passing along, and contributing to, any inherent mistakes or bits of misinformation much like the what the internet faces today. There was no standard page size so books were produced in many different configurations and calligraphic fonts. These “type styles” were often modeled on the local hand written font that incorporated regional abbreviations and that made them almost impossible for outsiders to comprehend.  Three quarters of all books written before Gutenberg were in Latin and any national written languages, meaning French, German, Italian or Spanish, didn’t really appear until well after Martin Luther’s 95 in 1517 except in small regional pamphlets and chap books. Estimates place the total number of European books in 1440 at thirty thousand and speculate that this number grew to eleven million within 50 years. Books before 1530 usually didn’t provide their author, title, date of publication or even any page numbers. When page numbers were first adopted they were  displayed in Roman numerals but by 1550 their replacement by Arabic numerals had begun although it didn’t dominate until the eighteenth century. Of course there are many more innovations in the history of the book but I think the above survey illustrates that the simple tome we all take for granted wasn’t always quite so simple.

THE LANGUAGE, ITS NATIONALITY AND THE PRINTED WORD

Up until the middle of the sixteenth century Latin was the written language of Europe no matter what region or country a given text was written in. The spoken language was a colloquial patois from the region or “nation” it was being spoken in. These local derivatives, recognized only by those people who spoke them, were to become the written French, German, Italian and Spanish tongues we recognized today. Classic written Latin, and even Greek,  garnered renewed interest during the renaissance but neither could serve the mundane needs of the growing middle class of merchants, artisans and others. The quest for enlightenment required languages that were more relevant to regional and nationalistic cultures. The Catholic church continued to publish in Latin, and the language in it’s arcane form is still the idiom of law, medicine and science. Literacy rates for both clergy and the general population took a nose dive after 450 and did not begin to rise again until the latter part of the middle ages and the increasing availability of print technology. Martin Luther’s 95 in 1517 brought about the commonality of the vulgar bible, printed in languages other than Latin, and helped to define nations and their respective languages.

A bible in your own tongue was a spiritual necessity if you could afford it. Once purchased it was also your duty to spread it’s gospel to any of your vassals, neighbors and house hold staff by reading out loud to them daily if possible. The vernacular bible became a late medieval teaching device used to instruct the reader or listener not only in his or her daily absolutions but also the fundamentals of reading. For the first time people had a written work in their homes thanks to the technology of printing and soon smaller cheaper segments of the bible and other religious texts could be bought by even the most humble semi-literate households. The common language bible stimulated the European quest for the new literacy and printers quickly devised numerous ways to stimulate and fulfill that demand. Soon small, often just a few pages, books and pamphlets began to find their way to isolated rural communities and urban locations usually sold by street vendors and traveling peddlers for a few “cents”.

Written accounts of explorations and adventures thrilled a word hungry public as did illustrations of far away places, peoples and monsters. Newly monied social classes sent their children to school and wanted the au courant recipes, clothes, styles and trends that became popular amongst the nobility and wealthy. Science knowledge was now a social pursuit as astronomy, botany, geography, agriculture, medicine and the arts became the topic of conversation in village squares and on city corners.  Those who could began building their own personal libraries that allowed them to compare and search for their own truths … not just those presented by the church or its pontificating clerics. DIY books appeared about agriculture and gardening and Columbus’s new world discovery changed the long-held concepts of the world and the foodstuffs Europe’s was putting in its braziers.  New printed volumes gushed on about courtly adventures, exotic travel, great love stories and cookbooks, medicinal, and scientific tomes affected the newly codified national languages.  The distinction between a language with printed literature and one without became much sharper, so languages with extensive literature came to be considered national languages; and those without local dialects, accents or patois. Once this happened, the geographical borders between nations, such as that between France and Germany or France and Spain, became sharper and more pronounced. Once national languages were printed, people began to call for purifying and codifying them, and for the first time readers became concerned with punctuation, spelling irregularities and grammar.  Printing also inhibited languages from undergoing local and inconsequential changes since words were now codified, defined and protected.

The texts cited here that were produced before Gutenberg were not cookbooks in the sense we think of today. Instead they were hand written personal recipes copied by monastic or public scribes of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Many of these copiers were illiterate and the “books” might have just been a collection of recipes much like your grandmother may have had; a folio or folder of loose pages bundled with a rubber band and tucked into a kitchen drawer. Books printed before 1500 are known as incunabula and their type font often resembled the period handwriting of their respective region.  Many of these remained in the kitchens of the nobility after their originators/cooks moved on and therefore found their way into numerous later compilations.  In 2007 some  3,300 new cookbook were published in the US out of  the total 270,000 printed titles. Although the numbers seem quite formidable they pale in comparison to the 400 thousand recipes and 57 million “food” pages available on the web and in 08 the food network had reached 96 million homes with a mainly male audience so who needs a cookbook?

THE BOOKS

There are about 100 known historic “Cookbooks”, all hand written before Gutenberg as well as numerous one page medical and health-manners works that include a recipe or two. Both the Greeks and the Romans long respected the connection between diet and health and therefore included many recipes in the medical writings of their time and the tradition continues today. The several hundred print shops in existence between 1453 and 1501 are thought to have produced some 35,000 titles for a total of about 8 million volumes; more than had been published from 330 till Gutenberg. By the beginning of the eighteenth century over 200,000 title had been pressed in runs of 100 volumes each; the same number of copies usually published for a scholarly work today.  By the end of the eighteenth century more than 100 cookbook titles, in fourteen languages with a total of 650 editions had been published including almanacs and small pamphlets with recipes.  In comparison 2.3 billion books were sold in 2006 represented by over 300,000 titles that included 27,000 cookbooks. Most of the early culinary works described here were written in languages and dialects that are unknown to most of us except period scholars. Many of these recipes made their way from kitchen to kitchen and manuscript to manuscript and that in itself makes dating and attributing them to any one specific author difficult and conjectural at best.

Even though historically the publication numbers pale in comparison to those of our millennia the earlier industry had no distribution system, no catalogue, no best sellers list, and no access through public libraries so even in this limited output distribution was iffy. Furthermore even if the distribution technology had existed there would have been a prohibitive shortage of material, meaning rags to make paper, on which to print since wood paper had yet to utilized.  Some historical theorist propose that the Italian renaissance was stymied due to the lack of affordable texts, caused by a shortage of rag paper to print on, for the literate middle and barely literate lower classes. Soon the erudite elite became voracious readers and the number of personal/household libraries began to increase as the price of books declined. The classics and new releases were read and discussed over and over again by both the learned and the dilettante. Printed books could now be produced hundreds of time faster than hand written ones and they allowed writers to publish in their own language for the growing market of common readers who knew nothing of the elitist Latin used in the previous centuries. The new codified languages of print technology helped to define countries and regions and was of singular importance in establishing both the various national and provincial cuisines of Europe.

A printed book, although still exclusive, was 80% cheaper to produce then one written on parchment especially in light of the decreasing cost of paper. Granted a 200 page work was still well beyond that of the average citizen but a sixteen page Bibliotheque Bleue, Flugschriften, Opuscolo or an even smaller 4 to 12 page pamphlet became affordable to almost everyone. Not only were these small books inexpensive but they were also easy to obtain through peddlers, chapmen and colporteurs who hawked these little books alone with other wares in village squares and city streets. In the rural areas these peddlers often offered credit terms ranging from several months to a full year which put the purchase of larger texts, like the bible and almanacs, within the reach of almost any family who had the aspirations and desire to do so. 

These little blue books often printed in the tens of thousands were published for the median and neophyte reader. They featured collections of proverbs and devotionals, wife’s tales and superstitions, medical, health, beauty and sex tips delivered in the argot of both the streets and the country side.  The colporteurs of Paris often delivered a portion of them orally in allegorical rhyme as a sales technique to the ever-increasing numbers of barely literate who were migrating to the city. These smaller issues usually displayed poorly rendered prurient wood block prints that may or may not have any relevance to the printed stories they accompanied.  Saints and sinners, kings and queens, elephants and sea monsters were popular illustrations along with witches, two-headed livestock and curiosities from the new world. Think of the National Inquirer or some of today’s graphic comic book novels printed on really rough paper and you have a approximation of how these issues might look and feel.

In the rural French departments these colporteurs often used broadside posters to explain and advertise the stories, events, recipes, and cures featured in their library.  Their sales pitch, often taken from the promoted texts, was presented in verse or song which was the public speaking manner of the period and helped inform, indoctrinate and titillate those in the audience who were illiterate.  In learning centers, universities, courts and other official assemblies information was read out loud and the listener, student, or official would take notes in his own hand. In the case of the Greek and Latin classics studied in the university instructors would help in translating the selection into the local patois after he had read them out loud since many of the terms were new or did not exist in the students dialect.                                                            

The elite who could read and write were usually not concerned with the peasant literature of the street and only purchased these despicable examples of check-out line trash when no one was looking. Content was tailored to attract new readers and DIY books for the craftsman, farmer, mason and landowner were written in the regional dialects of France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Historical examinations, expositions on science and medicine along with recipes for cosmetic and culinary applications were now readily available for the functionally literate and status climbing middle class who could now read the bible and the classics in their native tongue. Another tangible ‘”just got to have” feature of the new technology were the actual volumes themselves whose covers, bindings, pages, and illustrations soon became prestige markers amongst those who could afford to show them off. Numeracy did not necessarily accompany literacy and that explains the lack of finite measurements in early cookbooks an issue that survived well into the nineteenth century.  Through the centuries content was controlled or influenced by monarchs and the various religious power structures.  There were book bonfires in virtually every country in Europe until the separation between church and state evolved and “freedom of the press” became an adopted virtue.

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THE LITERATE, SEMI-LITERATE AND THE HUNGRY

The next two topics are especially hard to discuss without any finite and accurate statistics. Unfortunately those available require a leap of faith since there really are no concrete records for reading, writing and eating that don’t require specialized algebraic formulas with lots of weird little symbols that most of us don’t understand. So I’m going to provide a broad survey of the information out there not to confuse, but to illustrate that being able to purchase and read a cookbook, over and above having something to cook, impacted the development and codification of national and regional cuisines. The whole issue is further compounded by the shifting boarders of the European entities that took place over almost four centuries before they congealed into the countries we know today.  Even though this paper has a decidedly Gallic focus we’ll still look at some guesstimates for Europe as a geography that was in flux until the beginnings of the twentieth century. You need a choice of foods to create a recipe and develop a national or regional cuisine but generally most of Europe’s medieval inhabitants were mal/undernourished throughout their entire lives. This condition was intergenerational and persisted, depending on the country you lived in, well into modern age. But first let’s try to define the term literacy and what it meant in different  periods which is no easy task since the determinates are nebulous and differ from survey to survey. Our purpose is to conjecture whether or not a cookbook would have an effect on the cuisine of a country or a province before a certain date.

When the Renaissance was at its zenith about one in four male urban children attended school in Italy’s largest cities while most females would be lucky if they receive instruction in literacy and numeracy at their mother’s knee. By the end of the sixteenth century it has been postured that most of the Italian urban working class may have been literate in the most fundamental and practical sense. Records do not show an increase in school enrolment so it is likely that the appearance of low-priced broadsides, pamphlets and almanacs written for the barely literate played an important role in the everyday home education of the urban masses no matter which nation they lived. Italy had the highest literacy levels in the 1500’s but when the Renaissance took a dive so did the literacy rates which continued to flounder well into the modern era.

The average size of a Venetian’s personal library, for those who could afford one, grew from six volumes in 1450 to forty by the end of the sixteenth century.  In the seventeenth century fifteen percent of Venice’s households had at least one book although the number would be lower for regions and countries outside the Renaissance epicenter.  The adoption of vernacular languages made books easier to read and print technology decreased their formats from huge table model tomes to ones that could be tucked into a sleeve or at least carried for easy transportation. Comprehension was further enhanced when words were separated, punctuated, embellished with accent marks and printed on numbered pages that could be easily located and referenced using an index. All these new paleographic applications made it easy to read texts out loud to an audience by indicating when to breathe, when to end a sentences, or when to add exclamation as was the custom when books were notably rare and expensive.

The purpose in this paper is to raise the question of whether or not there was a “French” cuisine before 1850. I think this answer is applicable to almost any of the national foodways of Europe up to the period   IMHO … NO. Without a common language how can you hope to have a common cuisine, literature or national identity? My take is that all cuisines, with perhaps the anal Francophil post modern one, are constantly evolving especially with today’s globally connected supermarket and culture. In any case the next short segment examines who could read a cookbook before 1800 and the following chart is the best I’ve found in my research. Defining the term literacy in the historic period is compounded because it had different meanings, in different areas, at different times so any survey, and the method of compiling the data, is at best a questionable estimate. But I’ll just present some broadly illustrative data to substantiate my “no cuisine before its time” hypothesis.

There were huge difference between the departments or regions of the area we now call France that existed for centuries. In 1790 … 71% of the countries literate lived in the North while the South had only 27% of the total this obviously disparity between rural and urban locales was further compounded by the economic differences between the elite, merchant, artisan, farmer and laborer classes. Furthermore you were considered literate if you could sign your name instead or making your mark {OR} read something in you local patois {OR} read a pre-selected passage from the vulgar bible. Except for the elites the literate average citizen knew just enough to function in his or her specific universe. Being able to sign your name didn’t mean you could read even though for most surveys you were considered literate, and being “literate” didn’t mean you could do simple arithmetic equations, and numeracy didn’t mean you could read and …. and … and; you get the idea.

Literacy Rates % Europe

University of Tübingen, Germany

Not only was Paris the epicenter of Western haute cuisine, until the food of the provinces was taken back into the fold, but it was also the nexus of Gallic learning and culture;  in fact the city of Paris was France for all practical purposes.  The provincial lexicon and its related recipes were researched and compiled by the more literate Paris foodies and intellectuals since the literacy rates of the countryside prevented assembling and archiving the local recipes and patois in situ.  But this lack of literacy in the provinces help to perpetuate local recipes and insure the concept of terrior that has become the one of the major rallying points for Francophile foodies in the latter part of the twentieth century.  Furthermore Paris was the largest city in Europe until 1800 and that’s where Western cuisine matured and held sway until the latter part of the twentieth century when global cuisine arrived.

1300

• Europe had 12 universities  
• 30% of all Europeans lived in the cities and these people were, and would continue to be, the most literate for the next seven centuries. The newly barely literate of the urban areas would continue to learn through an osmotic information flow from above.

1500

• Europe has only 125 cities populated by ten thousand inhabitants or more
• Europe is controlled by more than 1000 self-governing political units
• Higher education is supplied by a mere 100 universities in Europe

1587

• When Venice was rocking 33% of the men and 12% of the women were thought to be literate and amazingly enough this estimate later declined precipitously as Italian fortunes waned

1600

• There were eight articulations for yes and six for no in the patois of the different French departments 
• Control of Europe has been consolidated into only 500 governing bodies

1750

• French homes with at least one book; Paris 22%. Lyon 33%, Rouen 63%

1792

• 50% of the Gallic population did not speak or understand the “French” of Paris

1800

• 3% of the world population is urban

1860

• Only 5% of “Italians” speak a common language and the country has yet to be unified. 

1879

• 30% of all French peasants are illiterate 

1900

• 95% national literacy is achieved in France
• Now there are only 25 different nations controlling Europe 

1914

• Total literacy in France was achieved 

2010

• Of the 600 million speakers of French only 65 million live in France and 50% are African. It’s highly unlikely that these non-resident speakers promote culinary terrior or French culture

The Hungary  ….  Europe on a Thousand Calories a Day

Coming Soon

Dragons, witches, devils and saints:  “Must of  been that ergot infected bread I ate three days ago but I was so hungry”

The papyrus is a plant that grows along the banks of the Nile and was even raised in “plantations” throughout history to supply an ever-growing market for the literate early cultures of the Western World. The plant was peeled and then the inner core was stripped or cut into flat lengths and soaked in water to remove any inherent glucose. After a few days the strips were removed from their water bath and pounded to soften the fibers. The fiber strips were then overlapped to form a 2 by 3 foot sheet with another sheet constructed over the first in a like manner but with the fibers lain in the opposite direction. The two sheets were then pounded to bind them and a weight was placed on top so the two separate sheets would fuse and dry into one. The resultant paper was then polished with an abrasive, often a loaf of specially baked granular sanding bread, making it ready for the scribe or artist to fill with glyphs or words.  Sheets we usually jointed at the ends by pounding and reversing the weave to form rolls up to a hundred feet long until the book/codex configuration became the format of choice replacing the scroll. The longest known papyrus roll, Harris I, measures over 120 feet long.

Parchment

Parchment is made from animal hides and those of almost any species could be used. In its most primitive form hides were soaked a lime solution that may have been amended with beer, putrefying plant matter or alcohol until the hair had fallen off the pelt. These treated pelts where then stretch on frames, scraped to remove any remaining hair, and sized to  standardize the thickness of the skin. After the parchment dried it could be further treated to change its color, penetrability by removing any excess oils that might cause inks used on it to run.  The finest grade of parchment was called vellum and came from young calf’s and it is from parchment that we get the name sheepskin for a college diploma.

Parchment easily withstood the demands of travels and storage, could be erased and reused, and both sides could be used; a decidedly useful advantage over papyrus when making books. Early Christians readily adopted the new skin technology for these reason or perhaps just because Rome had forbidden its use to them. When Constantinople fell both the route and source for papyrus dried up which, as bad as it sounds for literacy, was a good thing because parchment could be produced locally. A good size sheep hide can yield 3 bifoila, that’s double sided pages, so manufacturing and purchasing a book of any length was a costly undertaking.  This helped to keep the riff raff from learning to read and these publishing projects were often underwritten by some literate noble or cleric which explains why many of the early books of the period were rather short.

2000 BCE – Egypt

The Prisse Papyrus Roll

The oldest known written “paper” document with moral and philosophical guidelines. The document was bundled with two other smaller incomplete pieces of papyrus thought to be from 3800 BCE. The oldest document offered guidance to young Egyptian nobles in the form of proverbs. Some historians conjecture that many of these proverbs later appeared in the Christian Bible.

1700 BCE – Mesopotamia

YBC  4644, 8958 and 4648

The oldest known Western cooking record is written in Akkadian cuneiform on clay tablets from Babylonia. It’s thirty-five recipes showed a “new” cooking technology that deviated from the historical oven or hot ash roasting, grilling or broiling methods. Every recipe inscribed on these, possibly unrelated tablets, used boiling/brazing to prepare period grains, proteins and vegetables in combination or alone. One hell of a new app over simple singly prepared items … finally a soup or a stew or perhaps a little sauce to go with a piece of fried meat or maybe some sautéed vegetables.

The Assyrians/Persians used rice, barley, grapes, apples, cucumbers, pistachio nuts, bananas, dates, raisins, melons, berries, truffles, mushrooms, milk, butter, animal and plant oils, and a variety of different honeys and date syrups for sweetening. They had over 50 different shapes of bread, including pita, millenia before the Europeans. Dried fish, oxen, bison, water buffalo, zebu, sheep, wild game birds and locusts all found their way to the kitchens of the Assyrians. Different types of beers and several wines, made from both dates and grapes, were common.  36 different herbs and spices were mentioned in the text and study promotes the idea that Persian chefs not only served more than one item on a diner’s plate but the presentations may have also been garnished. Breads were made of both wheat and barley which in its whole grain form was used as currency.

776 BCE – Greece

Adoption of the Phoenician Alphabet and the First Olympics

450 BCE – Greece

A flourishing book trade exists at the Athens Market in Greece

390 BCE – Rome

The Gaul’s sack Rome and burn most of the written records there

300 BCE to 48 BCE or 391 CE or 640 CE … Many Myths

The Royal Library of Alexandria

Several myths exist as to its destruction,including the natural deterioration of the scrolls, and size but in any case some of its 700,000 papyrus “books” must have been cookbooks or at least contained medical advice on preparing food. One myth states that when a ship anchored in port it was searched for any on board texts which were then seized, copied and later returned to the vessels. The intent was to add to the volumes already on the shelves and build the largest depository of knowledge in the then known world.

300 BCE – Mexico

The Mayans, who had been writing since 300 BCE, make Amatl “paper” from fig tree fibers. The Olmecs, another Mesoamerican culture, had developed a writing system around 1000 BCE long before the European Romantic languages appeared

250 BCE

Writing on Bamboo and Silk in China

206 BCE – China

Qin Shi Huang, founding emperor of China, burns the books and 400 scholars

200 BCE

Parchment  Invented

In the city of Pergamon, Greece, because Egypt was boycotting that city’s new rival library by cutting off papyrus supplies. The new material was adopted centuries later by early Christians in Europe before any of the “nations” did. Legend says that Pergamon had a 200,000 scroll library that Mark Antony gave to Cleopatra as a wedding gift. Papyrus became so popular in the ancient world that the crops shortages along the Nile, the cultivar was becoming an endangered species, drove the price of “paper” up. Parchment for scrolls was stitched together with silk thread while the ends of a papyrus roll were beaten  together to form a bond. The widespread usage of papyrus began to decline around 200 CE while parchment codices remained popular until the beginning of the sixteenth century.

100 BCE

Rag Paper invented in China

37 BCE – Rome

First public library in the city of Romulus and Remus;  Rome had a higher rate of literacy than Medieval Europe

100 – 400 CE

De re Coquinaria

A manuscript composed of 57 pages has been attributed to one Marcus Gavius Apicus, but was actually written by several authors who used the nom de plume. The text  was copied by at least seven different scribe/monks after 744 in the Benedictine monastery of Fulda, Germany possibly as a training /copying exercise and was first printed in 1483. Other written copies may have existed but no others are known to us and as with all hand done text, especially in light of it’s “practice” provenance, the chances for mistakes and errors were multiplied by the number of people working on it. The manuscript had almost 500 heavily spiced constructs a third of which were sauces. Myth tells us that Gavius Apicus was a party animal who spent a literal fortune on his soirees. When his personal fortune and thought that he could not longer host these gatherings he fell on his sword.  But no matter who or how many participated in writing the text it left a lasting influence on European cuisine for the next millenia.

300

Parchment codex’s begins to supersede papyrus rolls in the recording of documents and the making of books.

410 CE – Rome

The Goths sack Rome and then the empire takes a dirt bath; say hello to the Dark/Middles ages.

455 CE – Rome

The Vandals give Rome a second sacking and staying for a few weeks to loot, plunder and sack the city. They leave after stripping the copper from the temple roofs and abducting Romes empress and her daughters to return to   Carthage.

450

Book/codex formats have pretty much replaced the scroll of the ancient period in the Western World

520

De Observatione Ciborum; On the Observance of Foods

The Letters of Anthimus, a physician who was exiled to the court of  Theodoric the Frankish king. He spoke of Roman food tradition and preparation methods. The first Greek/Italian influence to French cuisine, one of the last written examples of spoken vulgar Latin before the Romance languages appeared in Europe and it is argumentatively the first French cookbook. The text shows the start of the change from forest dominated game meats to the bread, olive oil and vegetable cuisine of the latter-day West.

610 -1200

Europe’s “Dark” Age

Knowledge and writing is housed in the European scriptoria’s of ecclesiastic monasteries, along with wine and cheese technology, agricultural skills and some very fluffy clerics. It has been offered that some of the good brothers, abbots and bishops consumed up to 6000 calories a day while the average peasant had to survive on 1200 or less.

640

Broadsheets of Confucian works are made from stone cut blocks by rubbed ink transfers to paper

704

Printed Dharani Prayer Strips in Kyongyu, Korea

New information also points to other printed artifacts from Korea that date between 704-751

764-770

Printed Paper in Japan

Empress Shotoku of Japan had 1 million Shinto prayer strips printed on mulberry-hemp paper using wood blocks or bronze/copper plates in this ISOLATED instance.

793

The Manufacture of Paper in Present Day Iraq

Haroun-el-Rashid operates a paper mill in Baghdad using captured celestial paper makers and their technology. Paper would not be fully accepted in Europe until the advent of the printing press because it was foreign, barbarian and non-Christian.

875

Kitab al-Adwiyah al Mufradah wal-Aghdhiyah

The first Western health/diet book written by Abu Ya’qub Ishaq Sulayman al-Istaili … aka Isaac Ben Solomon.  Translated into Latin around 1070 by Constantine the African of Carthage.  A prolific writer in Latin, Arabic and Hebrew his works covered all the seven sciences of the day including instruction for a  proper diet.

900

al-Kitab al Tabih; The Book of Dishes

The first known Arabic cookbook by Abu Muhammad al-Muzaffar ibn Sayyar al-Warraq. Until recently this was the only known Islamic cookbook available in the English universe. The newest edition is based on a modern twentieth century transcription of the four manuscripts that have survived from the period when Baghdad was the richest city in the world. The text contains many Persianized recipes from the sixth and seventh centuries with over ninety poems dedicated to cooking and the pleasures of food. The text also gives us many a floral passage describing the caliph’s “Iron Chef” cooking contests.

1004

The Fork Travel To Venice

Maria Argyropoulina, Greek niece of Byzantium uses golden forks at wedding.  When she died a short  time later of the plague the local clerics said it was the hand of god that struck  her down for heathen use of tableware instead of her god given fingers.

1050

Earliest Known Mayan Codex

The Dresden Codex was written on amatl paper in Chichen Itza by the Mayans in a kind of accordion fold format. Of course there were countless other Mayan books in existence, perhaps some of which might have even been cook books, but when the Spanish arrived the good fathers burnt most of them because they were heathen, sinful and ungodly. Visit http://mexicanfood1.wordpress.com

1057

The Last Known Use of Papyrus in Europe

A papal bull was the last known historically significant surviving document to be written on papyrus, yeah I know maybe not the last but …

1095 The Levant

Pope Urban II calls for the first Crusade

1109 – Sicily

Earliest known Western paper manuscript, a legal document of course, from Sicily, written in Arabic and Greek.

1145 – Sicily

King Roger II bans the use of paper for official documents cause it’s pagan. Europe still relies of parchment as stationery

1151 – Iberia

Moors brought paper making to a conquered Spain and build the first paper mill in Xativa where rice and straw were used to make “Xativi” paper.

1166-1189

An untitled collection of Arabic inspired recipes from the Norman court of King William II written in a Anglo-Norman dialect used between 1066 and 1350.  One of the portfolios contained a recipe for raviele/ravioli.

1189

First paper mill in Herault, France, although it had been manufactured in China since the first century.

1190

Subject indexes are now appearing and books are now being designed for reference as well as reading pleasure

1200

Book production begins moving from monastic scriptoriums to the public sector

1202

Leonardo of Pisa {aka} Fibonacci introduces European craftsmen to Arabic numerals 

1220

Genghis Khan, {aka} Temuchen, destroys Muslim libraries as he sweeps across Asia

1225

The first German law-book written in low German prose instead of Latin

1231

Paper is banned by Frederick II for court document; only parchment or vellum is acceptable

1250 – Paris

First use of the ALPHABETICAL indexes for scholarly works instead of just religious

1258 – Baghdad

The Invading Mongols destroy the house of wisdom which equates to burning the library of Alexandria

1275 – China

Moveable wooden type appears in China, Visit http://chinesefoodhistory.wordpress.com

1260 – Italy

First Italian paper mill at Fabriano

1293 – 1297

Comment’ on doit faire Viande et Clara; How We Should Eat and Drink

Contains 29 constructs and both of these folios were found tucked between some legal records.

1300 – Denmark

Libellus de art Coquinaria; Kochbuch Harpestreng

Perhaps the first European gastronomic codex, that is now thought to have originated in the kitchens of Fredrick II who reigned from 1194 to 1250. These 25/31 recipes, thought to have been of French or Spanish origin, were possibly translated by one Dr. Harpestreng into Danish another example of Europe’s one cuisine for the period.

1304 – France

Enseignements, qui enseingnent a apareillier toutes manieres de viandes

Instruction for Preparing All Types of Meats

The first manuscript devoted entirely to meat with 81 constructs written in Latin that were incorporated in La Viandier some 70 years later.

1309

First record of paper in England

1314 – Italy

Libre de Coquina; Book of Cooking – Italy

Thought to be the oldest known Italian/Neapolitan manuscript that ties certain foods to certain areas. It’s Constructs  showed the obvious linkage between local cultivars, ingredients and recipes. It was one of the first text to acknowledged “they make it that way there and this way here”.

1328 – France and England

Europe’s Largest Library

The Sorbonne has 1722 manuscripts while England’s Canterbury has 1850.

1315 – Europe

The Great Famine

Up to one-third of Europe’s inhabitants die of hunger and related causes.

1340 – Europe

The Black Death

The  Black Death kills one-third or more of Europe’s total population with no considerations for border or cuisine.

1350 – Germany

Daz buch von guter spise; The Book of Good Food

Complied by a notary employed by the archbishop of Würzburg. One of several German texts written in the mid fourteenth century with 96 constructs.

1370 – French

Le Viandier; The Provisioner

First known French recipe collection by Guillaume Triel {Taillevent}, printed in 1486. There were four existent manuscripts of the works, until one was destroyed on D-Day, 1944.  The texts contain between 133 to 221 constructs although some may have been added to the later copies.  The text describes par boiling meat before roasting it which would certainly improve the tooth of tough meat. It is now thought that Triel’s work was simply a rewrite of an earlier text entitled the manuscript of Zion/Sion written around 1300 and research continues.

1390 – England

The Forme of Cury

The earliest English language assemblage of recipes, written around 1390, mentions olive oil, porpoise porridge, boiled fruits in puff pastry and custards. It is one of the oldest known English language manuscripts in existence and the original vellum codex contained 196 constructs.

1393

Le Menagier de Paris; The Goodman of Paris, France

This book was written for a young French bride by her husband and contains lots of household tips as well as recipes for jellies, cod, sauce Cameline and crepes. Published in 1846 and was one of the first instructional guides for “housewives”.

1420 – French

Du Fait de Cusine; Because of Cooking/Cuisine

Created by Chiquart Amicvzo and written by the town clerk/scribe of Annessier with 78-81 recipes and a list for setting up a kitchen with the proper pots and pans. Myth tells us that the recipes are supposed to be those used to prepared for a 3 day banquet for Amadeus VIII the Duke of Savoy held in 1420. One of the few accounts of a medieval banquet arranged into menu items, presentation and guidelines. Recipes are presented in sections for feast and fast days since the year was split almost equally between them during the period.

1435 – Italy

Registrum Coquine; Registry of Cooking

Johane Bockenheim was a German cleric/cook who worked for pope Martin V and other church movers and shakers in his career. He always ended the 74 individual recipes in his book with the tagline; et erit bonum pro “excellent for” … Italians/Spaniards, or barons/kings or beggars/hookers {the last two are my choice of words}. This work had constructs for fat days and lean in addition to 10 or so for fish.

1440 – Germany; Print Technology Arrives

Johannes Gutenberg invents movable type printing although the Chinese have been printing full-page woodblock text for centuries and had mass-produced cooking broadsheets long before Europe. In 1455 180 bibles, which sold out immediately, were printed;  135 on paper and 45 on vellum showing that the two materials coexisted for several decades before paper finally won out. Rather then invent composed printing John actually combined existent technology to develop a new process.

1440 – England

The Boke of Kokery

Written around 1440, with 182 constructs that became the first printed English language cook book. It has three sections and many of these constructs are said to come from an earlier work entitled Diversa Servicia.

1450 – Europe

The first printed pamphlets begin circulating and are often read aloud in the streets to illiterate audiences a common practice of the period

1455-1467 – Italy

Libro de arte coquinqria; The Book of Culinary Art

65 sheets by Maestro Martino Como that were translated into French, English and German and promoted the use of sugar, butter and pork while deriding the excesses of the medieval  table.  Began the move towards regional food local flavors  instead of the exotics spices from the east. There are several other works out there attributed to master Martin.

1457 – Germany

The first PRINTED book with a colophon; author, printer and date displayed. The same text was also the first to use two colors and the first with printed lines of music.

1463 – Germany

First printed title page

1465 – Italy

First book printed in Italy. It used Roman type and was an edition of the Ciceronian classic De Oratore

1466 – Germany

First bible printed in a language other than Latin

1468 – Italy

Pope Paul II is told that the price of printing a book has decreased by 80% by his printer the Bishop of Aleria

1474 – Germany

First printed book with page numbers

1475 – Italy

De honesta volyptate et valetudine; On Honest Pleasure and Good Health

These six books were re-translated by Bartolomeo Sacchi {aka} Plantina based on the works of Martino Como aka Rossi/Rubies … they were also  translated in French, English and German and promoted the use of sugar and butter while deriding the excess of the medieval table. Thought to be the first printed cookbook in 1480. Also promoted the use of regional products instead of those popular in the earlier medieval period.

1477 – Italy

The first printed herbal documenting the medicinal properties of 77 herbs in Latin

1477 – Spain

Libre del Coch; Book of The Cook

Robert Nola wrote the first cookbook printed in Catalan in 1520 then Castilian in 1525 where he claims that the constructs are of Spanish, Italian, French and Moorish style. The book contains 242 constructs and is yet another example of the continuity between European cuisine.

1478 – Germany

Von Bewahrung und Bereitung der Weine; The storing and preparation of wines

Translated from Latin and printed in Germany. The first printed book devoted entirely to wines.

1485 – Germany

Kuchenmeystery; The Book of Good Food

The first German printed cookbook, written around 1350 had 56 editions and a recent edition was offered as a sales promotion by the Tupperware company to celebrate its thirtieth year of business in Germany in 1992.

1486 – Germany

The first travel book is printed

1486 to 1686 - Europe

Malleus Maelficarum; The Witch’s Hammer

This guide to identifying and spit roasting witches becomes the number two best seller for 200 years only surpassed by the Christian bible.

1490 – England

First mention of a paper mill in England

1492

Columbus Discovers the New World

The Columbian exchange of cultivars begins and information and wealth starts flowing from West to East instead of from East to West as it had for centuries. These new culinary inputs help to stimulate regional foods that had only existed previously because of growing condition and geographical location.

1508 – England

The Boke of Kervynge; The Book of Carving

The first printed English book that tells you how to carve a joint of meat, a whole fish, a side of whale, or an orange. This work shows the importance placed on the roasted joint and the status of the court/manor carver. Just think of your father trying to chop up the Thanksgiving turkey.

1520 – Italy

Libre del Coquina; The Cookbook

Maestro Robert of Naples {aka} Rupert de Nola published in Catalan and Castilian featuring  constructs with Arab, French, Italian and Spanish origins presented in the court of Palermo.  This work, and others, shows that Spain was certainly a player in the European cuisine scene. Iberian cuisine was influenced by the Saracens, Normans and Swabians; yet another example of the lack of defined provincial pockets of cuisine championed by today’s terrior pirates.

1530 – England

A huge deposit of graphite is discovered which the locals had been using for centuries to mark and identify sheep. England becomes the world’s major pencil producer for centuries to come.

1539 – Mexico

First book printed in Mexico

1533 to 1589 – France … The Myth Begins

La fantome des Medici’s; The ghost of the De Medici’s

Caterina Maria Romula di Lorenzo de Medici comes to France and becomes queen 14 years later in 1547 when her husband Henry ascends the throne. She will remain a potent force in the French court for over forty years through her sons and lots of intrigue.  If you are visiting this page, you’re probably familiar with the well-worn myth that Cat, along with her entourage, nudged French food into the realm of haute cuisine.  Legend tells us that Caterina brought cookbooks and cooks with her when she first came to court but there is no historical record of this myth.  Although she may have not brought a brigand of cooks or some of the fewer than 100 titled cookbooks that existed in the period, she certainly brought the trappings of renaissance La Dolce Vita with her.

She established the way the French court would dress, decorate, build, party and eat for centuries to come.  Just like any bride moving to a new country she brought all the Florentine trappings and craving  that included men and women dining together, the use of personal forks and spoons, napkins and handkerchiefs and individual place settings that featured a variety of glass drinking vessels and porcelain plates to replace the bulky pewter and silver of the period.

You can be sure that Cat let the guys in the kitchen know that she favored poultry with citrus, artichokes, broccoli, Savoy cabbage, pastas, oil and vinegar salads, puff pastry, meats without sugar, almond paste, candied flowers, ginger bread, sorbets and the dessert table.  After she had 119 mirrors installed in her Paris apartments, the style became a symbol of France especially in the Versailles palace about a century later.  Legend also tells us that she engineered high heels, the corset and the beginnings of ballet and forbade “heavy” jousting; the cause of her husband’s death.  Her elaborate entertainments set the stage for state affairs that lasted until the revolution and she was the first European women to use snuff; what could be more French than sneezing into you fine lace handkerchief after a little snort of tobacco?

1539 – France

French is declared the official language of France by Francis II superseding Latin

Of course this does little to change the spoken language of most “country” people who speak various patois.  It will take centuries for the population to speak one tongue and actually that’s still a somewhat debateable issue.

1552-1555 -  France

Traite des fardemens et comfitures: The Elixirs of Nostradamus 

Michel de Nostredame {aka} Nostradamus, wrote various pieces on preparing jams, jellies and candied fruits. This text also includes a cure for the plague, some hair care tips and a little sex advice.

1553 – Germany

Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin

Argumentably the first cookbook, at least known one, written by a woman

1562 – Mexico

Some estimated 2500 Mayan codices are burnt by Diego de Landa

1570 – Italy

Opera; Works

Bartolomeo Scappi’s book that illustrates and describes new kitchen technology and equipment and is also the first to speak of the fork. Many think this Italian innovation was perhaps adopted and developed to pick up hot pasta with sauce.  He also, as did his Roman predecessors, thought that offal cuts like sweetbreads, brains, liver and kidneys were gourmet and he often featured them in many of his almost 1000 recipes along with the first illustration of the personal fork.

1604 – France

Ouverture de Cusine; The Kitchen Opening/The Open Kitchen

Lancelot de Casteau’s lost text was rediscovered in 1958 then published in 1983. This texts mentions potatoes (tartoufle) as well as constructs from Spain, Italy, Hungary, Ireland, England and Portugal again citing examples of the continuity that existed in European cuisine. The work consists of four parts and includes a banquet menu for Bishop Robert Banks in 1557 that had 143 courses. The describe constructs included omelets, salads with herbs, sorbets and featured a section on children’s parties.

1604 – England

 Table Alphabeticall

Robert Cawdrey authored the first English only dictionary whose 2,500 ”vsuall English words borrowed from Hebrew, Greeke, Latine and French” were  intended for the benefit and help of ladies, gentlewomen and other unskillful persons.

1605

First printed German newspaper

In the city of  Strassburg … Wonder if it had a food section?

1631 – France

First weekly magazine, La Gazette, published in Paris

1634 – France

Richelieu Creates the Academie Francaise

A government sponsored organization for the promotion, preservation and purification of the French language that is still operating today.

1635 – North America

The first documented book in the future USA belonged to John Norton of Boston

1639 – North America

First printing press at Cambridge, Massachusetts; it only printed two broadsides that year

1640 – North America

First book printed in the future USA by locksmith Stephen Daye

1651 – France

Le Cuisine François’ The French Cook

The Beginnings of Cuisine Classique; that of the medieval/gothic period.

Written by François Pierre de la Verenne, Translated into English 1653 and cataloged the changes in French cuisine from the medieval period. It is the first text to  mentions the lard/ butter and flour roux, Bechamel sauce, stocks, reductions,  puff pastry, bisques, bouquet garni and the cooking of vegetables. It also features the use of sugar in jams, jellies, syrups, fruit drinks and a section of salads all “new” items. It also began incorporating many new items from the Columbian exchange that helped to transform all the cuisines of Europe into not only national but regional benchmarks.  He also wrote La Patissier François in 1653 which was the first French pastry dialogue and his previous work was the first cookbook translated into English.

1662 – Italy

L’Arte di Ben Cucinare; The Art of Good Cooking

Written by Stefani Bartolomeo; the first Italian cookbook writer to address himself to the different socio economic classes and regions well before any of his French peers. This tome also urged it readers to pride themselves in local foodways and reject the anal high cuisine of France.

1690 – North America

The colonies first newspaper; it lasts only one edition before the British close it down. The first colonial paper mill also opens this year

1692 – Italy

Lo scalo alla modena; The Modern Steward

Antonio Latini puts forward the first tomato sauce recipe and speaks of a sauce alla spagnuola

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1703 – England

The Largest Private library in the Western World

Samuel Pepys dies and leaves history the largest private owned library to date. His collection of 3000 volumes was arranged in bookcases by height from the shortest to the tallest with small wooden bases made for each book so that they all rose to the same level. Each of these wooded block risers/bases was designed to match the book it supported with the same colored leather bindings and accents.

1704 – North America

The Boston-News-Letter becomes the first viable newspaper in the colonies

1719 – England

A patent is awarded for three color printing

1741 – North America

The first magazines of the colonies goes belly – up after just a few months

1744 – England

First women’s magazine published by a woman for women

1747 – England

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy

Hannah Glasse wrote this British best seller that frowned on French food that was presented so a servant or cook from the lower classes could understand it when it was read to them. This was one of the first cookbooks aimed at average/middle class folks who had hired help and it disdained anything French. It was intended as a manual for training lower class, uneducated, servants and was a run away best seller for over a hundred years.

1789 – France

The French revolution begins, heads roll, chefs get downsized and Madame La Farge knits

Only 50% of the population spoke “French” the rest relied on local dialects filled with patois. Mandatory military service, a public school system and road construction were events and measures that helped to standardize language. No national cuisine at this point since its hard to exchange recipes when you don’t speak the same language and just as hard to transport ingredients from place to place with few traversable roads.

1796 – North America

American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.

Quite a title for the first printed and written North America cookbook. Amelia Simmon’s milestone work featured recipes for many native cultivars that were indicative of the way American foodways had adapted indigenous products and existing native constructs. And of course the fact that she was a woman writing for other women should not be overlooked!

1800 – The World

Latin has been pretty much been replaced by the language of authorship and source country

1810 – France

Nicholas Appert publishes the first book on canning/preserving food

Physiologie du gout; The Physiology of Taste

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

1831 – Mexico

El Cocinero Mexicano; The Mexican Chef

The First Printed Cookbook in Mexico

This anonymous author praises the “truly national” spicy constructs of Mexico and looks somewhat despairingly on the French contrived cuisine popular amongst the literate elite of the period. Mexican food is a true mother cuisine developed independently for centuries before the Spanish arrived.

1833 – France

Le Cuisinier Parisien

One of Marie-Antoine Carème most important books even though he wrote more than a half-dozen including one for the Tsar on architecture designs for St. Petersburg, Russia.

1839 – France

Louis-Jacques Daguerre’s photo processed is announced at an Academie des Sciences meeting

1853 – England

First use of wood pulp, using technology and processes invented in 1844, for paper manufacturing. Two thousand years of rag paper production end, except for fine papers, and the modern era of paper and newsprint begins

1860 to 1870 – Italy

Garibaldi begins unifying Italy

Only 5% of the peninsulas unified populations speaks a standardized Italian that would be recognizable today.  Just as in France the development of a national cuisine is still well in the future since there is little exchange of recipes, culture or agricultural differences between the provinces.  Most people living on the peninsula don’t consider themselves “Italian” until the middle of the twentieth century when they still pride their regional ties.

1868 – England

The Smyth sewing machine, which stitches book pages together, was patented in England by David McConnell Smyth. The bindery process is now faster and much stronger.

 

1871 – France

The Franco Prussian War

France loses territories to Germany that wouldn’t be returned until after WWI and now only 25% of the population speaks the “French” of Paris. The rural provinces each have their own dialects and often have problems communicating with their fellow countrymen making it very hard to exchange recipes which helps to maintain regional differences.

1895 – USA

The Chef’s Reminder

A great little book for the professional to carry in the pocket of their chef’s coat.  I used to own one of these guys and I always kept it in my toolbox at work for quick reference. Had a section for cooking in the dining room meaning crêpe suzettes, steak tartare, rex sole and various other items that were prepared table side with flourish, flair and flame.

 1903 - France

Le Guide Culinaire

Georges Auguste Escoffier’s most important book, although he wrote over a dozen. Enough’s been written about this work to make any further comment superfluous.

1907 – Germany … A Bible

Lexikon der Kuche; Hering’s Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery

Almost half a million copies sold of this comprehensive but decidedly professional reference that does not contain one recipe per se even though the latest edition, number 24, is composed of over 31,000 words. Thousands of entries, 979 for eggs, of which 58 are for stuffed renditions, and 569 for Hors-d’oeuvres. These texts assumed you were a professional and didn’t need any instruction but just an occasional reminder of ingredients.

1914 – France … A bible

Le Repertoire de la Cuisine

Written by Louis Saulnier for professionals who had already required the years of experience needed to develop a comprehensive repertoire. No recipes just a listing of ingredients to refresh your memory.

1930 – Switzerland … A Bible

Lehrbuch der kuche; A Manual of the Kitchen {aka} Classical Cooking the Modern Way

Ernst Pauli was the Director of the Lucerne Hotel School when he wrote this cannon of culinary instruction in 1930. Since then it has been refined and updated by both his son and grandson and is now in its thirteenth edition along with CD’s wow!  It, like the other books I’ve marked as BIBLES, was and is meant for trained professionals, those who want to be, or scholars of modern French cuisine.

1935 – France … A Bible

L’Art Culinaire Moderne; Modern French Culinary Art

Henri-Paul Pellaprat wrote this definitive text of over a thousand pages.  Some great photos, done before  there were food stylists, and hundreds of classic old school recipes reside here. I cut my teeth on the 1969 edition of this modern classic. Great constructs like eclairs with goose liver puree, saddle of hare, galantines and lots of rarely seen stuff. Pellaprat was the founder of the modern Paris Cordon Bleu cooking school program.

1938 – France … A Bible

Larousse Gastronomique

A massive missive documenting modern French culinary art with a wealth of illustrations depicting foods and presentations from the past.