By Sally Osborn Inside a late eighteenth/early nineteenth century recipe book in the Herefordshire Record Office (G2/1030), I found a leaflet advertising the Vegetarian Society, which was founded in 1847. It carries the following rather earnest declaration: The objects of the Society are, to induce...

What is a recipe?

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Sally Osborn (17 oct. 2013)

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By Sally Osborn Among the recipes for cakes and fritters, wines and pies, Lady Frances Hotham’s recipe book contains an entry that begins: For little children’s lambswool shoes – Cast 17 stitches. Knit 1 row plain. Add a stitch at both ends every other row, till you have 23 stitches. Knit 1 row plai...

The Food in History Conference

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Sally Osborn (24 juil. 2013)

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Editors' note: This is our first report on the Anglo-American conference 2013. Rachel Rich's post considers "The Politics of Food". By Sally Osborn The 2013 Anglo-American conference, which took place in London on 11-13 July 2013, was a fascinating mix of periods, styles and types of food history an...

Eighteenth-century DIY

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Sally Osborn (7 mars 2013)

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by Sally Osborn Sometimes among the culinary, medical, veterinary, cosmetic and household recipes in manuscript books one comes across some that would fall under the category of DIY in modern terms. These can range from a recipe for a relatively simple product that we would now buy off the shelf, su...

Not quite the real thing

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Sally Osborn (26 nov. 2012)

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By Sally Osborn One interesting aspect of manuscript recipe books is the frequency of recipes for ersatz or substitution products. This was perhaps understandable in an age when access to ingredients might be haphazard or require travelling a considerable distance. However, it also possibly reflects...

Chicken Soup for...

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Sally Osborn (11 oct. 2012)

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By Sally Osborn Chicken soup is one of our modern panaceas for all ills, but it was also used as medicine in the eighteenth century. However, while nowadays it is associated with treating colds and flu (and has actually been proved to have anti-inflammatory properties), then it appears to have been...

Contributing to The Recipes Project - Five Years On

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Katherine Allen (1 août 2017)

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Editorial: This is the seventh of a series of reflection posts from Recipe Project contributors and editors. By Katherine Allen and Sally Osborn We’ve both had the privilege of being regular contributors to The Recipes Project for the past five years, and we’ve found it a really rewarding experience...

Summer Recipes: A Recipes Project Round-up

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Amanda Herbert (4 août 2015)

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Belgian Summer. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Amanda E. Herbert Here in the southeastern US, the summer weather is sweltering, and it seemed like the perfect time to dig into the Recipes Project Archives for some posts on how best to survive the hottest (northern hemisphere) months of the yea...

The Politics of Food: Food in History at the Anglo-American Conference 2013

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Rachel Rich (25 juil. 2013)

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Editors' note: This is our second conference report on the Anglo-American Conference 2013. Sally Osborn's post considers the domestic and institutional spaces of food. By Rachel Rich I started working on food history in 1996. People often smirked when I mentioned it. It seemed like a little topic, s...