New from the archive
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Fish Stories: History, Community, Recipes &…
As with most good things, we learned about “Fish Stories” by chance, while randomly walking around New York City on…
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Vegetables will save us all!
“Vegetables are really great!” declares this 1969 cookbook from Vermont. Written in a style that exaggerates its “country qualities,” it also sought…
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11 Retro Foods that don’t seem…
Grandma’s chicken soup, mom’s apple pie, grilled cheese sandwiches – there are some foods that we take comfort in, and…
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Kabbalah and Tahini: Early Modern Sesame Treats
Time: 16th century | Place: Safed (then part of the Ottoman Empire, now Israel) | Language: Hebrew | Book: unpublished manuscript | Imagine if Pope Francis suddenly came out with a cookbook. It would be totally unexpected, in large part because we don’t think of religious or political leaders as people who would consider recipes important….
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Health & Herbs in Medieval Times: Sage Wine from “Treatise on the Way of Preparing”
Time: Early 14th century | Place: France | Language: Latin | Book: Tractatus de modo preparandi et condiendi omnia cibaria ( Treatise on the way of preparing) | Author: Unknown Sage, oregano, thyme, dandelion root – these aren’t just herbs that flavor our favorite dishes, but plants that have medicinal properties and have been used in…
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Fish Stories: History, Community, Recipes & Fish
As with most good things, we learned about “Fish Stories” by chance, while randomly walking around New York City on a sunny Sunday morning. This new community cookbook was presented at a Lower East Side community event run by Paths to Pier 42. While working on Leftovers, we learned that community cookbooks used to be…
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Vegetables will save us all!
“Vegetables are really great!” declares this 1969 cookbook from Vermont. Written in a style that exaggerates its “country qualities,” it also sought to revive home cooking and show how easy it was to prepare something nutritious, at a time when many mothers and housewives were turning to TV dinners instead. This recipe for pickles is typical of New…
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Ancient Roman Lentils with chestnuts: Italian food before tomatoes
Time: late 4th or early 5th century AD | Place: Rome | Language: Latin | Author: Apicius (probably not a real person though) | Book title: De re culinaria We often think of spices as related to flavor and as a nice addition to food, but spices in the ancient world were more essential….
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11 Retro Foods that don’t seem like food anymore
Grandma’s chicken soup, mom’s apple pie, grilled cheese sandwiches – there are some foods that we take comfort in, and that give us a sense of nostalgia. And then there are foods that we don’t ever wish to see again. You be the judge of whether these mid-century dishes even seem like food anymore. We…
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What and How To Cook In Wartime: Hummus
Time: 1942 | Place: Palestine | Author: Lilian Cornfeld Writing a cookbook is often like writing a manifesto: it’s not about what people eat, it’s about what people should be eating. You don’t simply document the food culture around you, but rather your vision of what the surrounding culture should look like. Every salad is a…
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Spinach With Yogurt: the doctor of the Sultan and his cookbook
Time: ~1450 | Place: Anatolia, (today: Turkey) | Language: Ottoman Turkish | Author: Muḥammed bin Maḥmūd Shirwanī Chia seeds, quinoa, green smoothies – food culture in America today seems to be obsessed with creating and maintaining the young, healthy, and potent body. Culinary knowledge is not limited to cooking techniques, but also includes concerns of…
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10 Medieval Feasts We Wish We Could Join
1. Who doesn’t love a feast with horses bursting through it and people smashing things? This party definitely went over the top. “The Banquet in the Pinewoods: Scene Three of the Story of Nastagio degli Onesti,” 1483, Botticelli 2. The Duke (seated at the right, in blue) looks like a happy camper. Should we tell the guy…