Cooking and Cookbooks in Nineteenth-Century Finland: Changes in Cooking Methods, Recipe Writing, and Food Textualization

Abstract

Abstract This article examines what the two most significant cookbooks of nineteenth-century Finland—Kokki-Kirja (Cookbook, 1849) and Anna Olsoni's Keittokirja yksinkertaista ruuanlaittoa varten kodissa ja koulussa (A cookbook for the simple preparation of food in the home and the school, 1893)—tell us about the circumstances and methods of cooking at the time, as well as the writing of recipes. The article also discusses how the early ideas of food science and home economics affected the food culture and the writing of cookbooks. The data (mostly recipes) were read and interpreted by using the author's own cooking skills, body techniques, and experiences of cooking, first to discover past ways of cooking, and secondly to understand how culinary skills and practices were textualized.