The earliest recipes that have been found are from 1500 B.C., on a clay tablet in Babylon. Inscriptions of recipes in kitchen walls and fireplaces were also found in the Pompeii ruins, estimated to be from around 79 A.D. De re conquinaria, although associated with Apicius (who lived in the 1st century A.D.) was compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century. dating back to the reign of Emperor Tiberius is also one of the earliest cookbooks. These cookbooks contain recipes for exotic foods, sometimes even to the point that these foods didn¡¯t actually exist. This is a recipe for flamingo meat and tongue that can be found in Apicius¡¯ book of recipes. The validity of this recipe is still being disputed - "some cookbook writers seem to feel obliged to call for esoteric ingredients to demonstrate how recondite are their tastes." (Barbara Wheaton) The cookbooks were written mainly by royal cooks, for royal kitchens or for banquets in upper-class, private homes. The writers used the recipes themselves, or to train other professional cooks. (10)

III.2 Cookbooks of the 18th century
            The 18th century marked a slight change for cookbooks. First of all, the authorship base was expanded to the Americas, especially American women, which influenced the change in its readership. While the European cookbooks were focused on feeding the aristocrats, with the cookbooks mainly for cooks in royal or upper-class families, American cookbooks were for everyday homes, literally manuals for housewives. The most famous cookbooks from this time are Eliza Smith¡¯s The Compleat Housewife and Hannah Glasse¡¯s The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, as well as Amelia Simmon¡¯s American Cookery.

III.3 Cookbooks of the 19th century
            By the 19th century, both the readership and the authorship of cookbooks were dominated by women. Both the 18th century and 19th century cookbooks were directed to women of middle class or higher, as housewifery was regarded as a social responsibility of the women. These women would sometimes use the cookbooks to prepare meals themselves, but more often they used them to direct their kitchens - in other words, they used them to tell their servants how and what to cook. Another interesting characteristic can be found in the American cookbooks of this era - a 'nationalist flavor'.

            "Between 1796 and 1808, Amelia Simmon's book was published in four editions, and its repertoire widened to include Independence Cake, Federal Cake, and Election Cake (a rich, spicy, fruit-strewn loaf designed for town meeting occasions) - all three titles speaking of a new nationalist fervor. There was talk of an 'American mode of cooking.'" (11)

III.4 Cookbooks of the 20th century
            Cooking itself became more professionalized during this period, with the cookbooks following suit. Various 'cooking schools' were established around Europe and the United States, but the American cooking schools and European cooking schools had a difference. While cooking in Europe remained for the most part a masculine profession, cooking in the States was a feminine profession. Even the aforementioned cooking schools had women founders and educators who taught the public as well as how to cook. As the word 'teaching' implies, cooking was no longer regarded as an intrinsic skill of women but rather a skill that could be taught to anyone. Cookbooks were also designed to follow suit, and cookbooks of this era were the first to have specific measurement scales and cooking times.

(12)

III.5 Cookbooks of the 21st Century
            Modern cookbooks are diverse to the point where they have no limitation. Unlike cookbooks of the decades past, 21st century cookbooks do not have a single defining characteristic. Both the authorship and readership include anyone with even the slightest interest in cooking, and the format of the cookbooks range from online-based recipes with scant directions to professional ones in heavy-set volumes. These cookbooks are directed to a specific group of people, not just a vague group such as 'housewives'. Many people, for many purposes, turn to cookbooks and the diversity that exists in today's culinary market reflects this demand.

IV. Analyzing a cookbook

IV.1 Where was it published ?
            Most cookbooks have existing records that tell the readers about the country it was published in, which may make this question seem pointless. However, this question is not only about the countries, but more about the specific regions in which the cookbooks were published.
            "Amelia Simmons, in her American Cookery, begins her discussion of peas with recommen-dations about what varieties to plant, while Eliza Acton, writing in her Modern Cookery, is concerned with helping the housewife not to be cheated by her greengrocer." (13)
            From these two cookbooks that are targeted at an urban area and a rural area, readers can firstly infer about the different lifestyles of people in each region. Readers can know how they measured food (urban cookbooks sometimes used price as a measuring unit), what kinds of foods they ate, and the social atmosphere of each region. Furthermore, the reader can find out more about transportation both within and outside of the country. Since the urban regions were more connected with the outside, ingredients and recipes that appear in an urban cookbook of the same era tells us how developed the international commerce was, and what countries traded actively with the original nation of the cookbook. Rural cookbooks are more apt to provide the readers with information about traditional dishes that employ fresh ingredients, which give clues to the climate and distinctive flavors of the nation.

IV.2 When was it published ?
            Knowing when a certain cookbook was published is important because it provides a basis for all of the things that the reader can deduce from the book. The significance of the ingredients, instruments, and cooking methods described in the book would hold little or no meaning without the background, the time period in which it was written. The publication date also serves an important part in source criticism. A cookbook is a source that can, for the most part, be trusted. However, there are instances where the cookbook doesn¡¯t faithfully mirror the society of the time due to factors such as personal aspirations or favoritism on the author¡¯s part. We cannot trust the author to be the ideal ¡®average¡¯ person of the time and place, especially since cookbooks are the product of an individual¡¯s taste. In some cases, the authors added ingredients and recipes that made their tastes seem more refined, even if they were not available at the time. By knowing the date and the various transportation methods of the time, the reader will then be able to judge the credibility of the cookbook.

IV.3 Who published it, for whom ? Why ?
            The readership and authorship of cookbooks are very important when discussing the social structure of the time. For example, most cooks until the end of the 18th century did not know how to read, but cookbooks were still written at this time. This reveals that the cookbooks written during this time were either for housewives of the middle class who had received primary education and did the cooking themselves or housewives of both middle and upper class who had at least one cook. We can take the analysis further and deduce that housekeeping was regarded by the society as a profession, much like a managerial job. Women who had no other means to prove themselves saw the area of cookbooks as a viable means to establish their names, an attitude which contributed greatly to the emergence of feminist ideas in the late 18th century.

V. Analysis: What cookbooks tell us

V.1 Ingredients

V.1.1 Economy
            An ingredient and how often it is mentioned can be a reliable measure of the availability. For example, potatoes made a frequent appearance in cookbooks, after the appearance of household manuals. This is because potatoes were cheap, easy to grow, and easy to get whether the author lived in the country or the city. From this, the readers can infer that potatoes were a staple food that most households were able to afford. Another economy-related area that ingredients tell us is the trade between nations. With the developments in transportation methods followed developments in commerce which led to the diversifying of cuisine. This process is reflected in cookbooks, and it is even more significant in cookbooks since the 18th century because this is when cookbooks became focused on the middle class. The fact that commerce with other nations was established and the price lowered so that even the middle class could have access to ingredients from overseas means that the national economy was stable and developing at a fast pace. Also, comparisons between rural and urban cookbooks indicate developments in intra-national modes of transportation, which lessened the gap between the two areas and also contributed greatly to the development of the national economy.

V.1.2 Climate
            The ingredients also tell much about the climate. This is pretty straightforward, as it shows which crops were able to grow best in the given climate of the region. However, there is something to be aware of in this case. The most frequently used ingredients do not always indicate the climate. For example, tomatoes in Italian dishes in the modern age is almost a given. However, tomatoes are not native to Italy : they are native to the Americas, from which they were shipped to Italy after the Age of Discovery and incorporated seamlessly into Italian cuisine.

V.2 Flavor
            Each region has a distinct flavor that is made by the foods that the people in the region eat. However, this is not influenced by the ingredients as much as the spices that are used. This is also related to the climate of the region - for example, if the author of the cookbook lives in a dry, arid environment spices are less likely to be used. On the other hand, if the author lives in a humid, cool environment, the author would be more likely to write about colorful foods with lots of spices involved.

V.3 Social Structure

V.3.1 Social Classes
            One of the most interesting facts about cookbooks is that most people who did the actual cooking couldn¡¯t read. This begs the question, who actually used the cookbooks? The answer can be found in the records of women's education, especially that of the 17th century.
            "Schools however were generally for the boys. It was not customary to educate women since her place was the home. She didn't have any economic pressure to earn her own living since she was going to get married and raise a family and care for her home, often at an early age. Women then were basically illiterate; many could only sign their names with an x. If they did go to school, it was to a dame school where they taught some reading and knitting and maybe a little arithmetic, music and dancing. They were taught reading for Bible study and arithmetic for household expenses, not to encourage thinking! It was more important to learn how to be a housewife: to cook, to spin, to weave and to knit socks. Women and young girls during leisure time often embroidered samplers, they made fancy scarves and veils and did much quilting." (14)
            Though the excerpt above describes American education for girls, this type of attitude towards female education was hardly out of the norm in Europe as well. From this fact we can see that women¡¯s role within the household and the society as well was to efficiently run a household. This does not mean that the housewife did all of the housework. In fact, this shows that the middle or upper class housewives who used the cookbooks had servants and slaves to whom they issued instructions from the cookbook. Until the 18th and 19th centuries, this kind of loose social structure existed. We can also infer from the fact that cookbooks developed into more scientific manuals in order to teach more women how to cook that this was the period when it wasn't the norm for the middle class to have cooks or slaves.

V.3.2 Cookbooks and Women's Place in Society
            Cookbooks reinforced housewifely duties, yet cookbooks played a big role in the women gaining independence from their ties to the kitchen. With no other outlet for social recognition, the women of the 18th century professionalized what they were required to do. "Women who thought their lives too ordinary to be of interest to others, used their cooking skills and prized recipes as a vehicle for making themselves visible." (15)
            The change in cookbooks that came in the 19th century and the 20th century, scientific accuracy, shows that cooking was no longer considered an 'inherent' skill of women, but something that could and should be taught. While in the period before, women were considered to be born for the job of housewifery, this was no longer the case. It is also memorable to note that women sometimes wrote cookbooks to fund their other interests, such as literature or suffragist activities.

V.4 Culture
            Cookbooks tell us a lot about culture, especially of the culinary traditions. We can know what kind of foods people of different regions ate on different occasions, especially festivals. One main example is the syllabub, which is an English dish similar to milk pudding and served often at festivals.

(16)