I'm a gastrovist

I recently got a job building digital anthologies for BiblioBoard. We're working on an Archives of the World project and I decided to create a culinary collection. It is still a work-in-progress of course, but I''m excited.

You really should've seen me nerd out the other night when I found cookbooks from the late 1800's and early 1900's. I was giddy about archaic spellings, hand painted covers and wondering how and when the format of cookbooks went from recipes in paragraphs to a scientific procedure. It seems the writers of turn of the century cookbooks expected you to know something, and figure it out if you didn't. Cookbooks today have lists of ingredients and step-by-step instructions hmmmmm.....

There were also archaic measurements. About 10 minutes ago, my mom went silly about a archaic measurement in a New England cookbook: A Suggestion of white sugar.

So...I need to explore this further for I cannot believe the sheer amazingness of what is on my computer screen right now. If I believe what my eyes are perceiving, I am looking at a digitization project of mass extent. It is a digital archives of cookbooks- handwritten cookbooks- from 1760, the 1900, prob earlier. And this project-tagline"have you ever tried to read your great-grandmother's hand-written recipes'- is a project brought to you by the library of- no, not New York or Boston or Berkley- IOWA. IOWA. Well, there are geniuses all over! Hallelujah! Someone has their head on straight.

http://diyhistory.lib.uiowa.edu/transcribe/collections/show/7

Here are some old cocktail books:

http://goldenagebartending.com/library/

It is imperative to document how different cultures have interacted with food over the years. We must preserve, and we must teach our children to preserve, for there is no way to have a historical party without preparing the food they ate. Right? Right.

The best way to learn some of these traditions is through primary sources. For example, The New York Public Library has a digital database of its city's menus throughout the centuries. This effort parallels other efforts I have recently seen of community involvement in archives. These types of projects rely on volunteers to transcribe text from hand-written or typed recipes or menus into a more legible format.

A strange fusion

Libraries are struggling, which is why they have undertaken so many new programs lately. One such program is seed libraries. Get this: it promotes heirloom varieties! So, I think we might all benefit from it. I am not a gardener, and thus have not tried these programs. In fact, I do not know of any libraries in my area that are doing this. Then again, I live in built-up suburbs around a big city. It is very important to have genetic variation in all species and to preserve some of those varieties that make a dish a little more authentic. As far as I gather right now, one borrows the seeds from the library and gives seeds back of the plant that they have grown. Don't you want to go back to our roots and produce a genuine product rather than buying it at the store?