Early American Cookbooks

I must confess, I have an addiction to cookbooks, especially those published in the 19th and early 20th century. I love how they are written – the language is beautiful – and they are so simply done. The recipes and the narrative around them give us a glimpse of what life was like during a time nearly long forgotten. I have many print copies, many reproductions, and a lot on my iPad that I have downloaded … those are easy to come by if they haven’t been reprinted.

I spent last week in Detroit, MI at a conference and had the opportunity to visit The Henry Ford … I highly recommend it, especially for history buffs.  I’ll be sharing some photos and stories later, but am excited at two of the cookbooks I purchased as reprints.

The Early American Cookery was first publish in 1896 under the title Ye Gentlewoman’s Housewifery. It was written by Margaret Huntington Hooker. I’m glad the 2010 edition has a new name … the other one is hard to say and I’m not so sure about that whole housewifery deal.  It’s a fascinating book.

The second is titled What Mrs. Fisher knows about old southern cooking (I hope a lot!) and was the first African-American cookbook published in American – in 1881 – by Abby Fisher.  I suppose I’m especially excited about this one because Noodle is biracial … and I’m hoping to introduce her to her various roots through food. Of course!

I’ll be pouring over these two books in the next few months, so check back for stories and maybe even some recipe testing!