Did frugal cookbooks differ markedly from other cookbooks? A text analysis comparison shows some interesting results.
Was the word “frugal” a common term in cookbooks? Did if fall in and out of favor over time? Check out the timeline chart of when the word appears in the Early American Cookbooks collection
Fireless cookers were very popular in the early 1900s as a way to save labor and fuel in cooking. A fireless cooker consists of a “kettle or other vessel that can be heated, enclosed in a box or other outer shape, with enough insulating material between them to prevent the heat in the kettle from escaping.” Food brought to a boiling point and then enclosed in the cooker would continue to cook slowly over several hours. Similar to modern crock pots or slow cookers, fireless cookers were labor saving devices: “Busy women, mothers, teachers, students, and all those who have to work outside as well as in the home, may prepare wholesome, nutritious, economical, and attractive dishes, with very little time spent over the kitchen fire.”
Books published in the West comprise 8.8% of the Early American Cookbooks collection. Most of these books were published in the 1890 to 1920 period when book publishing businesses in the west became more established. The majority were published in San Francisco or Los Angeles. Some of the interesting titles include The Times Cook Book, No. 2 : 957 Cooking and Other Recipes by California Women, Brought Out By the 1905 Series of Prize Recipe Contests in the Los Angeles Times, The Neighborhood Cook Book Compiled Under the Auspices of the Portland Section in 1912, Council Of Jewish Women, and Bohemian San Francisco : Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes, The Elegant Art of Dining by by Clarence E. Edwords (1914).
When books published in the West are compared to the full set of titles in Early American Cookbooks, the over-represented terms show regional place names (Los Angeles, San Francisco, California) as well as foods grown in the region such as Sunkist oranges, walnuts, and raisins. Chili and chile show the influence of the Southwest. The word “phone” shows that the Western set is far more modern than the full set of titles.
Western over-represented terms (Meandre Dunning Log Likelihood to Tagcloud Algorithm)
Cooking on the home front was a patriotic duty during World War I. These “soldiers in the kitchen” are learning to adapt recipes to save on meat, wheat, sugar and fat
Camouflage cookery, or the art of using money-saving substitutions to make “mock” versions of traditional dishes, became very popular during World War I. Wartime food rationing was the rationale for this book of recipes, but mock recipes have a long history in American cooking. Recipes for mock turtle soup can be found throughout the collection. The recipe below is quite similar to one in The Cook’s Oracle (1822).
Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857-1915) was a major figure in American cooking in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her most successful cookbook, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, was first published in 1896 and sold millions of copies in many subsequent printings and editions. The 100th anniversary edition was published in 1996 and the book is still in print today.
The book was the first to introduce precise measurement and Farmer later became “the mother of level measurements.” Her discussion of food composition, caloric calculations and the body’s need for nutrients, formed a systematic view of cooking that influenced cooking instruction for decades to come (Feeding America).
Text analysis of Farmer’s books clearly illustrates her emphasis on precise measurements. When her books are compared to the full set of titles in Early American Cookbooks, the over and under-represented terms show that measurement is the key difference. In the tag clouds below, the over-represented terms are tablespoons, teaspoons, and cup. The under-represented terms are teaspoonful, tablespoonful and cupful which were frequently used in cookbooks of the era. Farmer insisted upon the difference between a vague “teaspoonful” and an exact “teaspoon.”
Did vegetarian cookbooks differ markedly from other cookbooks? A text analysis comparison shows some interesting results.
When did the word “vegetarian” first appear in American cookbooks? Check out the timeline chart of when the word appears in the Early American Cookbooks collection
Frugality has a long history in America. The Frugal Housewife by Susannah Carter (first edition 1772) was one of the first cookbooks to be published in the United States. Later books on the same theme included A new system of domestic cookery, formed upon principles of economy by Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell (1814), The American Frugal Housewife by Lydia Maria Child (1835), and Economical cookery by Marion Harris Neil (1918).
