LibGuides: Food History at the Rubenstein Library: History of Medicine Collections

The Cook's Oracle, 1823

In addition to practical recipes, this cookbook also contains a humorous and playful song about fried beef and cabbage, demonstrating that cookbooks were not only instructional, but also entertaining. Seeing cookbooks as objects that serve many purposes, both practical and recreational, opens up new modes of inquiry into the life of these dynamic objects.

Food and Environment

Food and Climate, 1849
Philip Harvey, the author, states his purpose in Chapter 1: "In the following pages I shall assume the task of showing that man is not under all circumstances adapted to the same kind of food; but that he may with propriety, under certain conditions, take it from either of the classes; and the criteria to guide him in his selection are furnished by temperature and climate."

Memoirs of Soyer, 1859

Popular Medicine Guides

Popular medicine guides, largely intended for women, touch upon a wide range of topics related to health including home-remedies for the sick. These fascinating works also feature emerging research in dietetics, such as vegetable-based diets, in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although just a portion of of popular medicine guides, the list below serves to acquaint researchers with this fascinating genre.

The Cook's Oracle, 1823 (5th Edition)
A comprehensive book containing "simple" recipes for a range of dishes, many with medicinal properties, including broths, gravies, soups, sauces, store sauces, and flavoring essence.
Vegetable Diet, 1838
Written by William A. Alcott, this volume "embraces the testimony, direct or indirect, of nearly one hundred individuals, - besides that of societies and communities - on the subject of the vegetable diet."
Memoirs of Alexis Soyer, 1859
Soyer was a French chef who became one of the most popular chefs in Victorian England. This volume was released after his death when his culinary legacy was still well known.
Gunn’s New Domestic Physician, 1863
"[A] complete guide for families, giving many valuable suggestions for avoiding disease and prolonging life, and pointing out in familiar language the causes, symptoms, treatment and cure of the diseases incident to men, women and children: with the simplest and best remedies, also, describing minutely the properties and uses of hundreds of well-known medicinal plants"
The American Household Book of Medicine, 1866
Recipe book containing home remedies and cures for common ailments. Food, in many capacities, is considered a form of medicine. The first chapter, "Prevention of Disease" includes sections: "On Food and Diet" and "Times of Eating" and highlights nineteenth-century ideas about nutrition.
How to be Plump, 1878
Chapters include: "How I Became Plump", "Leanness a Disease", "The Importance of Water", and "The Value of Fat".
Aids to Long Life, 1885
A medical, dietetic, and general guide for middle-aged and elderly people.
A Manual of Dietetics, 1886
By J. Milner Fothergill, this volume claims, "The day of Dietetics has arrived." It then notes that, "[m]odern advances in our knowledge of physiology of digestion have been accompanied by a like progress in the preparation of foods" and goes on to provide instructions for best practices in food preparation.
A Scientific Method of Eating Your Way to Health, 1924
A guide through which to control one's health through Professor Arnold Ehret's mucusless-diet healing system.
The New Dietetics, 1927
Written by John Harvey Kellogg, this book attempts to scientifically approach dieting so as to maximize health benefits on the body. Kellogg, known for the invention of the breakfast cereal corn flakes, was also an advocate of vegetarianism.