English Cookery Books: The Period 1500–1700

English cookery books and books on food in this period offer an understanding of domestic life that increasingly defined the activities of men and women in the household as different in kind and in value. The word ‘oeconomy’, prior to the 17th century, denotes household economy: the preparation of domestic medicine and many household products, the preservation and conservation of food throughout the year, and the planning and implementing of family diet. Indeed, household economy centred around food and was recognized as the single most important factor in the survival of any family. As the 17th century moves through the Commonwealth period (1640–60) to the Restoration, husbandry turns into the economically visible work of farming and agriculture, while housewifery becomes the invisible labour of domestic women. The shift is documented by the books on food in subtle and intimate ways rarely available to the social historian.