Cookery books and identity : Neu-verfertigtes vollständiges Kochbuch by Stanisław Rasmofski from 1671

Abstract

The aim of the article is to explore the authorship of early-modern cookery books and to identify the authors and their background by analysing their work. The paper is based on an analysis of a German-language cookery book by Stanisław Prasmofski, entitled Neu-verfertigtes vollständiges Kochbuch, published in Nuremberg in 1671. The only information about the author comes from the title page. In such a situation analysing the recipes, the formulation of the title, the preface, the layout of the edition and even the arrangement of the contents can be helpful in establishing whether the author had Polish or German cultural background. Identifying authors of early-modern cooker books is difficult since the final shape of the publication was influenced by many factors. An important part was played by proof-readers, printers and booksellers, who often interfered with the contents. The article analyses Stanisław Prasmofski’s work in the context of other cookery books published in Germany in that period, comparing the information available about their authors, the titles and the formats. Special attention is paid to inter-textual relations, borrowing recipes from earlier publications, and the scale of compilation and falsification. Another topic discussed is how social identity was expressed via food. An analysis of recipes from a gentry cookery book by Max Rumpolt (Ein new Kochbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1581) and a burgher cookery book (Vollständiges nürnbergisches Koch-Buch, Nürnberg 1691) juxtaposed with a statistical analysis of recipes for meat dishes from Prasmofski’s work demonstrates, using the example of game, that elites used food to signal the distinction between themselves and other social classes and to confi rm their identity. It has been established that Pramofski’s book is rooted in the German culinary tradition. The author’s links with German culture are confi rmed by his preface, which quotes numerous stories set in German-language countries and local proverbs.