Invention of the Modern Cookbook by Sandra Sherman

Author:Sandra Sherman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781598844863
Publisher: IB Dave's Library
Published: 2010-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

INVENTION OF THE MODERN COOKBOOK

Ray, Nigella Lawson, and Giada de Laurentis, whose diets, endorsements, and marriages are staples of women's magazines. Everyone worships Julia Child, the putative founder of America's culinary renaissance. Even before Julie & Julia, Julia was a superstar--Mastering the Art of French Cooking (her breakthrough book), The French Chef

(her PBS series), the Smithsonian's installation of her kitchen, and My Life in France (2006) kept her (always dignified) in the public eye. 13

Julia was the quintessential natural performer, setting the standard for elegant showmanship. Yet each of these chefs, more buoyed than

overshadowed by Julia, has established a brand; when readers seek

cookbooks, they know what to expect since the brand is an instrument of efficient marketing. 14 Batali's The Babbo Cookbook (2002) vows that ''the recipes that follow present the dishes precisely as they are served at the restaurant'' (11). Batali is true to his brand. 15

The next section considers the origin of such branding and argues

that starting with Robert May in 1660, chefs embarked on a mission

of self-creation and exhibition that--except for obvious differences

in media--would be recognizable among twenty-first-century celebrity chefs. Thus, while powerful multimedia are new, the power of celebrity--of the charismatic actor--emerged ages ago. The seventeenth century launched a sophisticated discourse of culinary celebrity, which changed over the next hundred years but consistently sought to theorize what celebrity meant--how it was acquired, what

it entailed. This discourse adumbrates many twenty-first-century

claims, from those of an Olympian Thomas Keller to the more

approachable Naked Chef. It is self-consciously commercial as it

emerges from older forms of literary production and adjusts to the

burgeoning market. 16 In this sense, it bears an uncanny similarity to what twenty-first-century celebrity chefs say about themselves as

they calibrate their art with media appearances.

THINKING LIKE A CELEBRITY IN

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The Progenitor: Robert May

The first great celebrity chef to write a cookbook in England, Robert May, was a master of self-promotion, clearly assisted by able handlers. He was the first of his cohort to present himself as important and to theorize his importance both to England and the progress of

culinary art. 17 The Accomplisht Cook (1660, improved 1665 and 1685) projects May's ''accomplisht'' persona, starting with the

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