Primitive Cookery

Primitive Cookery
Second edition title page
LanguageEnglish
Subject
  • Semi-vegetarian cuisine
GenreCookbook
PublisherJ. Williams
Publication date
1767 (second edition)
Publication placeKingdom of Great Britain
Media typePrint
Pages80
OCLC642606679
TextPrimitive Cookery at the Internet Archive

Primitive Cookery; or the Kitchen Garden Display'd[a] is an anonymously authored English cookbook first published in the mid-18th century. A second edition, published by J. Williams with considerable additions, appeared in 1767. The book contains recipes for dishes made without fish, flesh, or fowl, together with instructions for pickling, gathering, and preserving herbs, fruits, and flowers.

Although some recipes include meat, most are based on vegetables, eggs, and dairy. Later writers have described the work as an early vegetarian or semi-vegetarian cookbook, and have compared it with Martha Brotherton's Vegetable Cookery (1812).

Background and publication

An earlier anonymously published book with a similar title and recipes, Adam's Luxury and Eve's Cookery; or, the Kitchen Garden Display'd, was published in 1743.[1] It has been attributed to Frances Hill.[2]

A second edition, with considerable additions, was published in London by J. Williams in 1767.[3]

Content

Primitive Cookery gives recipes and household instructions based on produce from the kitchen garden.[4] Kevin Carter writes that the book was intended to promote inexpensive and healthy eating among people who could not afford meat, rather than among those avoiding it for ethical reasons.[5] Sandra Sherman describes it as primarily vegetarian, though not entirely vegetarian, because some recipes include meat.[6]

The title page states that the book contains a bill of fare of 70 dishes, each claimed to cost no more than two pence.[7] Carter notes that a number of recipes in the book are found elsewhere.[5] The book also includes a recipe for a cheap drink made from oats.[8]

Reception

A review in The Monthly Review criticised the cookbook and questioned where the editor had found what it considered outdated and misleading material. The review took issue with the claim that the 70 twopenny recipes were suitable for the poor during times of scarcity, arguing that most would cost more than two pence to make, and that some would cost three times that amount. It suggested that only basic water gruel could be made for the stated cost.[9]

The Journal Encyclopédique was also critical of the book's claim to offer 70 dishes costing only two pence each, stating that none could be prepared for less than twelve pence per person. The reviewer expressed doubt about the quality of the dishes, while acknowledging the author's stated aim of helping the poor.[10]

Later assessment

Primitive Cookery has been described as the first vegetarian cookbook, predating Martha Brotherton's Vegetable Cookery.[11][b] Sherman argues that it is primarily a vegetarian cookbook, though its connection with vegetarianism is not absolute.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Full title: Primitive Cookery; Or the Kitchen Garden Display'd. Containing a Collection of Receipts for Preparing a Great Variety of Cheap, Healthful and Palatable Dishes, Without Either Fish, Flesh, or Fowl; With a Bill of Fare of Seventy Dishes, That Will Not Cost Above Two-Pence Each. Likewise Directions for Pickling, Gathering, and Preserving Herbs, Fruits and Flowers; With Many Other Articles Appertaining to the Product of the Kitchen-Garden, Orchard, &c.
  2. ^ Primitive Cookery includes some recipes containing meat, unlike Vegetable Cookery.

References

  1. ^ "Adam's luxury and Eve's cookery; or, the kitchen garden display'd". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  2. ^ Byrd, Melanie; Dunn, John P. (2 December 2020). Cooking through History: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Food with Menus and Recipes [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-61069-456-8.
  3. ^ Oxford, Arnold Whitaker (1913). English Cookery Books to the Year 1850. Henry Frowde; Oxford University Press. p. 97 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Sherman, Sandra; Chotkowski, Henry (2004). Fresh from the Past: Recipes and Revelations from Moll Flanders' Kitchen. Taylor Trade Publications. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-58979-088-9.
  5. ^ a b Carter, Kevin (11 September 2014). "An 18th Century Vegetarian Cookbook, and a Peek into the Diets of the Poor". Savoring the Past. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  6. ^ a b Sherman, Sandra (15 April 2010). Invention of the Modern Cookbook. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 211–212. ISBN 979-8-216-10463-6.
  7. ^ "Primitive Cookery Book". Townsends. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  8. ^ "A cheap drink for ſamilies". Primitive Cookery; or the Kitchen Garden Display'd. London: J. Williams. 1767. p. 68.
  9. ^ "Art 11. Primitive Cookery". Monthly Review; Or, New Literary Journal. 36: 155 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ "Avril 1767". Journal Encyclopédique (in French). 3: 143–144. 1767 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ Stott, Martin (2015). The Cowley Road Cookbook. Signal Books. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-909930-32-2.

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