tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2032365360611242433.post1133717486545036943..comments2024-01-07T21:43:26.909-05:00Comments on The Cold Table: "American Cookery"Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2032365360611242433.post-3444363816673345342011-03-31T21:34:59.240-04:002011-03-31T21:34:59.240-04:00IMHO, cookbooks are fascinating as Primary Source ...<i>IMHO, cookbooks are fascinating as Primary Source Material For Historians because they presuppose:<br />1 - foodstuffs and other raw materials (who provides them, and how are they acquired ?)<br />2 - a place to 'cook' or otherwise make edible the raw materials<br />3 - someone to do the 'cooking' (servant, housewife, bachelor ... )</i><br /><br />Exactly! They tell us so much about what it was like to live in the period when the recipes in the book were still used. <br /><br />I can just guess what "assumptions" about how food was acquired and prepared, and who did the preparing, changed in your lifetime, John, but feel free to explain if you wish! I'm sure that will be interesting.Cathy Raymondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2032365360611242433.post-87140735142380507842011-03-31T08:09:49.767-04:002011-03-31T08:09:49.767-04:00Hello!
Ms Simmons' book gets mentioned in alm...Hello!<br /><br />Ms Simmons' book gets mentioned in almost all the 'histories of food in North America' I've ran across, so having a facsimile edition available is a Good Thing.<br /><br />IMHO, cookbooks are fascinating as Primary Source Material For Historians because they presuppose:<br /> 1 - foodstuffs and other raw materials (who provides them, and how are they acquired ?)<br /> 2 - a place to 'cook' or otherwise make edible the raw materials<br /> 3 - someone to do the 'cooking' (servant, housewife, bachelor ... )<br /><br />And, by and large, cookbook writers don't realize they're making these assumptions, and, even in my lifetime, these assumptions have changed.<br /><br />Yrs, John<br />(An old codger rambling on in a rainy morning...)Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04502270572434379966noreply@blogger.com