Celebrating our past

Founded in November 2013, The Historical Cooking Project began with monthly bilingual (french and english) meetings where members would cook recipes from a chosen cookbook using the culinary techniques (when possible) of the same time period as the book’s original publication. For the first eighteen months of the organization, we surveyed recipes from many different time periods and continents. The initial editorial board consisted of Alex Ketchum, Carolynn McNally, Emili Bellefleur, and Kathleen Gudmundsson. Over time we grew interested in exploring new aspects of historical cooking and foodways and as a result, the content and scope of the blog has grown beyond the initial focus on cookbooks.

Check out our past posts on the cookbooks:

Catherine Parr Traill’s Female Emigrants' Guide (1854) Canada​

Nicolas de Bonnefons’ Les Délices de la Campagne (1654) France​

The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook (1950) United States​

Le Livre de la Nouvelle Mariée (1934) Quebec​

Gervase Markham’s The English Housewife (1615)​

Auguste Escoffier’s Le Guide culinaire (1903) France​

Amelia Simmons’American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life. (1798) United States​

Salvador Dali's Les Dîners de Gala (1973) Spain/ France​ (which we did before this year's reprint)

Pellegrino Artusi's La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangier bene (1891) Italy​

Fannie Farmer's The Boston Cooking School Cookbook (1896)​

The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food (Книга о вкусной и здоровой пище), (1939) Soviet Union​