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What Is Cooking in Literature

Hyde,Ira Volume 1
The Virginia Housewife: Or, Methodical C... (by Randolph, Mary)
The Home Cook Book (by Herndon, James B., Jr.)
The All-American Cook Book / Being a Col... (by Brebner, Gertrude Frelove, Mrs)
King Edward's Cookery Book (by George, Florence A)
Twentieth Century Home Cook Book (by Carruthers, Francis)
A New System of Domestic Cookery : Forme... (by Rundell, Maria Eliza Ketel)
The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book; Two... (by Fannie Merritt Farmer)
Home Department Cook Book (by Boylston Congregational Church, Mass Boylston Cong...)
Physiologie du gout, ou, Méditations de... (by Brillat-Savarin)
The Golden Rule Cook Book : Six Hundred ... (by Sharpe, M. R. L. (Maud Russell Lorraine))
A Friend in the Kitchen; Or, What to Coo... (by Colcord, Anna L)
Nineteen Centuries of Drink in England: ... (by Richard Valpy French)
English Bread-Book for Domestic Use, Ada... (by Acton, Eliza)
Modern Cookery for Private Families : Re... (by Eliza Acton)

Beyond nourishing us, food assists us in maintaining our health and can impact our moods. A source of passion and great pleasure, food also has many links with history.

Food, including menu options and ingredients can convey a person or group’s status in society. During the Middle Ages, expensive spices such as saffron were reserved for the affluent while in Great Britain, only those who hail from the royal family are permitted to dine on swan.

On the contrary, many of the dishes that are currently referred to as “soul food” in the U.S., have roots in America’s South. Although the “soul food” label was coined many years later, it describes the meals that African slaves created from the leftover food that their “masters” enjoyed.

Much of world exploration such as the expeditions of Christopher Columbus were driven by the pursuit of black pepper. The word “salary,” from the Latin word “salarium,” is also linked with salt. Due to its use in preserving food, salt was once a valuable commodity. In fact, soldiers in the Roman army were sometimes paid with salt instead of money.

The food industry remains a favorite topic and pursuit for people around the globe. It was during the 1980’s when the word “foodie” first appeared in print to describe a culinary enthusiast who seeks new food experiences as a leisurely pursuit rather than out of the basic need to eat. Since then, there’s been lots of movement within the industry.

Specific cuisines such as “comfort food” and “fusion” come in and out of vogue along with demand for foods such as kale or cronuts—a croissant-doughnut invented by Manhattan pastry chef Dominique Ansel.

Within the last few decades, there’s also been an upswing in demand for “organic” food, as well as a rise in the number of farmer’s markets, and an increasing appetite by “locovores” for eating “locally grown.”

Food trucks have become trendy in cities across America, as well as in London, Paris, and Bilbao. There’s also been a boost in the amount of celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay who host and judge televised cooking competitions.

Well before Ramsay, Bobby Flay, and other luminaries such as Julia Child exuded their star power, culinary talents such as Bartolomeo Scappi—the personal chef to Pope Pius V—gained recognition. He is credited for creating Opera dell’arte del cucinare, which some regard as the first modern recipe book.

Literature is ripe with food references, which makes for delicious reading. Pie was a favorite dessert and topic for Mark Twain, who wrote about award-winning pie recipes. In fact, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the character’s name was inspired by one of Twain’s favorite desserts—huckleberry pie.

A variety of descriptions of pumpkin pie, custard pie, and berry pie are mentioned in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy. In The First Four Years, Laura practices the art of baking as she sets out to make a pie for guests, but forgets to add the sugar.

By Regina Molaro