Antiquity through the Middle Ages

In the history of printing, cookbooks were right there in the first legendary group of printed books that included the Gutenberg Bible and Homer’s Odyssey. Four cookbooks are among them, published in four different countries and four different languages—one in Latin, the language of learning; one in French, the widespread language of culture; one in German; and the last in English. All four are practical cookbooks, compiled by working cooks who had spent their careers in the kitchen. These cookbooks are simple collections of recipes, without the explanations or personal comments of today. None have more than two hundred recipes. They are pioneers, a part of the advance guard of seven hundred or so printed books whose influence on the development of Western cooking has been profound.