What Cookbooks Really Teach Us

Cookbooks promise a kind of domestic alchemy. They help us escape from the monotony of leftover chicken and teach us to transform ordinary ingredients into something exotic.

The first Western cookbook was written over 1,600 years ago by a Roman gourmet called Apicius. His recipes combined cooking advice with household management, advising housewives to keep a well-ordered larder and discipline their children.

1. They teach us about ingredients

Even if you don’t want to spend all day making your granola bars, you can still learn a lot about the ingredients that cooks use in cookbooks by looking at how they are organized. For example, you can examine the table of contents and note what kinds of foods were available at the time the book was published. You can also look at the types of recipes included and see if they represent particular cooking techniques or styles (for instance, you might notice that there are a lot of crock pot recipes in a cookbook on slow cooking).

In addition to teaching us about food culture, cookbooks help us build our skills in the kitchen. They teach us new cooking hacks and allow us to experiment with fresh foods and techniques. Cookbooks are also great for boosting our confidence in the kitchen and inspiring us to step out of our comfort zones.

Despite their versatility and approachability, cookbooks are often overlooked as scholarly information sources by undergraduate students and instructors. However, they are rich and flexible materials for introducing students to primary source analysis and can be used as low-stakes, high-reward activities for practicing artifactual literacy. Moreover, they pair dynamically with other types of food-related documents like handwritten “receipt books” and recipe clippings from magazines and grocery store advertisements.

2. They teach us about cooking techniques

Shelves bend under the weight of cookbooks, each stuffed with more recipes than one cook could hope to cook in a lifetime. While the recipes themselves vary widely, the books’ formats and structures often teach important lessons about how to cook.

According to political theorist Kennan Ferguson, cookbooks first emerged as a means of passing cooking knowledge when families dispersed and couldn’t easily pass along family recipes. They are “a straightforward way to communicate that knowledge and to forge communities across distance and time,” he says.

In modern times, cookbooks are a platform for sharing personal and cultural culinary beliefs. For example, the wildly popular Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat, a former chef at Chez Panisse, instructs readers on how to master four fundamental principles of cooking. “Learn to see your ingredients in a whole new light,” she writes. “Select your spices wisely, use your fats with care, and respect your acid. Learn how to manipulate the basic building blocks of a recipe and then make it your own.”

This sort of cookbook, which offers a set of foundational rules, is an excellent teaching tool for novices. It can help them sift through their vast collection of cookbooks to find those that will help them learn the most skills in the least amount of time. Then, they can begin to create their cookbooks, focusing on the techniques that interest them most.

3. They teach us about knife skills

Cookbooks are designed to be both informative and entertaining. This is why many cookbooks include a lot of visual detail: beautiful food photos, props, and illustrations help home cooks visualize the recipe and guide them through the process of creating it. Cookbook authors also use a variety of writing styles to enhance the book’s aesthetic and teach readers about cooking techniques or ingredients.

The first Western cookbook was compiled around 1,600 years ago by a Roman gourmet named Apicius. The manuscript, De re coquina (“concerning cookery”), included a collection of recipes, most of which were probably drawn from the work of earlier chefs. The book set the tone for cookery advice in Europe for centuries.

Social and environmental concerns, including local and sustainable food, often influence today’s cookbooks. The authors of these books share their vision for how to make food more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Cookbook writers may also draw on their own experiences and reflect upon the era in which they live when writing about food.

Some cookbooks are a challenge for home cooks, demanding that they pay attention to the details and make every ingredient count. Daniel Boulud’s Cafe Boulud Cookbook is a good example. Others, such as Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison, helped to change the image of vegetarian cuisine from beige nut loaf to dishes that rival meat-based meals in terms of flavor and beauty.

4. They teach us about food culture

Cookbooks, as literary genres, illustrate aspects of the culture in which they were created. Like any other text, they communicate a variety of messages, some of which are intended to be seen as positive and others that may not. As such, cookbooks are often helpful teaching tools that can help students understand a particular era or culture.

For example, a 19th-century cookbook written by Mary Randolph offered advice on cooking food that was typical of her class, which helped establish a culinary identity among women in her time and place. She also included illustrations of kitchens and table settings, assisting the readers to recognize particular objects, such as cruets or pickle vases, that would make the recipes in her cookbook authentic.

Another example is a cookbook published by a celebrity chef, which offers home cooks the chance to see into the mind of a professional culinary artist. This allows readers to appreciate the complexity of the chef’s work and can inspire newer cooks to emulate this work.

The popularity of cookbooks demonstrates how many people are interested in the art and science of cooking. For instructors who are looking for ways to teach about the importance of food culture in our society, cookbooks are an excellent resource that is adaptable to a variety of disciplines and offers a number of opportunities for interrogation at both introductory and advanced levels.