You will each have the opportunity to introduce the class to one of the cookbooks we’ll be studying this term. Familiarize yourself with the cookbook and select a typical recipe or two. Then, in a presentation of no more than 15 minutes, highlight what you find distinctive about your chosen recipe(s). Consider any/all of the following:
- Prefatory material: Preface, Introduction, “To the Reader,” etc.
- Arrangement of material
- Tone & style
- What sort of ingredients are called for? Consider, e.g. geographic origins, seasonality, cost, nutritional and/or religious concerns, taste/flavor profile
- What sort of culinary techniques: boiling, roasting, baking, grilling, etc.?
- What kitchen equipment would be needed to prepare the dish?
- What was the available heat source?
- Anything else you may find relevant
- Optional (but much appreciated): try preparing one of the recipes and share it in class
You must show an outline of your presentation the day before you present and submit a hard copy of the outline on the day of the presentation. Please provide enough copies of your recipe(s) for the class. Your presentation will be graded and you will receive a written evaluation.
Oral Presentation Schedule & Topics
- Session 4: Hugh Plat, Delightes for Ladies
- Session 5: Gervase Markham, The English Housewife
- Session 6: Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook
- Session 8: Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy
- Session 9: Eliza Acton, Modern Cooking for Private Families
- Session 11: Isabella Beeton, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management
- Session 13: Alexis Soyer, Charitable Cookery
- Session 14: Charles Elmé Francatelli, A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes
- Session 16: “Wyvern” Kenney-Herbert, Culinary Jottings for Madras
- Session 17: Florence White, Good Things in England
- Session 18: Elizabeth David, A Book of Mediterranean Food
- Session 20: Jane Grigson, English Food
- Session 21: Nigella Lawson, How to Eat
- Session 22: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, The River Cottage Cookbook
Example student work - Good Things in England (PDF) (Provided by Harini Suresh and used with permission.)
