Which is the first culinary book ever written?
score:13
A collection of 26 Babylonian recipe tablets written in Akkadian from 1700BC have been deciphered. Here is an interesting newspaper article on the translations by a chef-turned-antiquarian:
Recipe tablets from the Yale Babylonian Collection, previously thought to contain pharmaceutical formulas, have been decoded by French Assyriologist and gourmet chef Jean Bottero. The three Akkadian tablets, dating to about 1700 BC, revealed, Bottero wrote in a description of his find, "a cuisine of striking richness, refinement, sophistication and artistry, which is surprising from such an early period. Previously we would not have dared to think a cuisine 4,000 years old was so advanced."
Upvote:1
Not as ancient as Babylonian recipe tablets from 1700 BC, but still I think they're worth a mention.
Archestratus of Gela, a "Sicilian-Greek gourmet" and poet of the 4th century BC, known as "the father of gastronomy" and "the Daedalus of tasty dishes", wrote a book on food very popular in antiquity. This work has been cited under different names: Gastrology, Gastronomy, Hedypatheia...
According to Wikipedia:
His humorous didactic poem Hedypatheia ("Life of Luxury"), written in hexameters but known only from quotations, advises a gastronomic reader on where to find the best food in the Mediterranean world.
And...
... most of his attention is given to fish, although some fragments refer to appetizers, and there was also a section on wine.
The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology also says that Archestratus had a teacher, Terpsion:
mentioned by Athenaeus as the first author of a gastrologia, giving direction as to the viands from which it was advisable to abstain.
Sources:
Upvote:4
Wikipedia has a list, starting with:
The earliest collection of recipes that has survived in Europe is De re coquinaria, written in Latin. An early version was first compiled sometime in the 1st century and has often been attributed to the Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius, though this has been cast in doubt by modern research. An Apicius came to designate a book of recipes. The current text appears to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century; the first print edition is from 1483.
More post
- 📝 I'm trying to find a primary source (or some historical authentication) for John Quincy Adams' Toledo War quote.
- 📝 Were there any elections under the Vichy regime?
- 📝 Did the communication lag become a problem for the ever expanding Roman Empire?
- 📝 How did wills work in times of Oscar Wilde?
- 📝 How common was cavalry in medieval Brittany?
- 📝 Did the Germans have enough bombers to conduct "strategic" bombing of the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What factors contributed to the popularity of Eastern cultures in the USA in late 20th century?
- 📝 Did unmarried Spartan women have longer hair than men?
- 📝 Were concentration camp guards allowed to talk about their work at home?
- 📝 Distinguish Mitsubishi G6M1-L2 and G4M1 aircraft in this picture
- 📝 Was it customary for an executioner in Elizabethan England to ask for forgiveness from the executed?
- 📝 Why did the Ottoman Empire not industrialize like France, Germany or Belgium?
- 📝 When did age gaps in marriage become looked down upon in America?
- 📝 Did Antoine de Saint-Exupery have any offspring?
- 📝 Was the danger of radiation in the case of nuclear war overestimated during the cold war?
- 📝 What is the earliest recorded example of an extradition treaty or law?
- 📝 Which trade route took the longest (in time) to travel?
- 📝 Did the more experienced hoplites fight in the front or the back of the phalanx?
- 📝 What was the standard spoken language (dialect) in the Three Kingdoms period?
- 📝 Why did the USA stop expanding westwards into East Asia?
- 📝 What is the relationship (if any) between Skøyen and Skøyenåsen in Oslo?
- 📝 What is a "barso"? (ref. Richard Cocks' diaries)
- 📝 How did the US vet Soviet refugees for possible spies/infiltrators?
- 📝 Did some Roman/Pompeiian houses have atria for slaves?
- 📝 Why did Gibbon call the Aegean Sea 'Holy'?
- 📝 Is Himmler's memo about genocide authentic? Significant?
- 📝 Is there art or written evidence of crescent shaped arrows being used for bird-hunting in Medieval Europe?
- 📝 What evidence is there for inventions by slaves or former slaves in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 Who was the architect of Uraniborg and Stjerneborg?
- 📝 When did the Roman empire start to hire Anglo-Saxon mercenary troops to protect Britain?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Which is the first culinary book ever written?
- 📝 Which religion was the first monotheistic one?
- 📝 Which was the first civilization to ban slavery?
- 📝 Which was the first war in which photography was employed?
- 📝 Was there ever any doubt which side the USA would join?
- 📝 Was Donald Knuth the first person to typeset a book using a computer?
- 📝 Did the treasure ship Cortes first sent from Mexico ever arrive in Spain?
- 📝 Has a book ever caused the ousting of a dictator?
- 📝 Which car was the first to come with a cigarette lighter receptacle?
- 📝 Has there ever been any assassination so that another assassination could happen during the first one's funeral?
- 📝 What was the first instance of native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
- 📝 Why was Hiroshima selected to be the city in Japan on which the first atom bomb was dropped?
- 📝 Which was the earliest book of names for naming babies?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that the book of Isaiah was written before Cyrus?
- 📝 What was the first book translated from Japanese to any of the European languages?
- 📝 What does the first Versal in Book of Kells refer to?
- 📝 When was the first full length book sent over telegraph?
- 📝 Which is the first genocide?
- 📝 Has a book ever secretly been written with gold ink?
- 📝 During the WWII, did the German Luftwaffe ever have mixed units of Bf-109s and Me-262s, and if so, which units and/or which airfields?
- 📝 Which country was the first to separate (Christian) Church from state?
- 📝 When was the term "Dravida" first used and what is the context with which it was presented?
- 📝 What was the first ever televised lottery?
- 📝 Was Christianity the first belief system which encouraged the ideal of peace among all people on Earth?
- 📝 Which year was the first leap year?
- 📝 How can we be sure what the first day of the month was 2000 years ago and how can we determine which years were leap years?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 Did the ancient Greeks ever climb Mt. Olympus?
- 📝 What is the first recorded dog name?
- 📝 Is history always written by the victors?