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Thursday, June 16, 2022 at 07:15

The historical and cultural value of cookbooks

For the first time, a Spanish public university dedicates a course to the investigation of domestic cookbooks, in which international historians and the most outstanding Spanish chefs will participate.

Editorial Office/Rosa Márquez

Gastronomy is part of the intangible heritage of humanity, however, from the academic field, due attention has not been paid to domestic handwritten recipe books, the main contribution of women to this field. With the purpose of publicizing the rich cultural legacy of these traditional cookbooks, the Rey Juan Carlos University presents the course 'Domestic cookbooks as an intercultural and intergenerational communication resource', which will be held at the old Pavia barracks in Aranjuez on July 7.

The course, directed by the journalist and professor Yanet Acosta, will feature the most relevant historians in this field, such as the professor at the University of Cincinnati, María Paz Moreno, author of the book 'From the page to the plate. The cookbook in Spain' (Trea, 2012) and the historian from the University of Córdoba and author of 'Sciences of Gastronomy. Theory and method' (Almuzara, 2019), Almudena Villegas. In addition, the CSIC researchers Judith Farré and Sarah Serrano will share the research methodologies of these documents that are often "outside" the historical documentation and that, however, are still crucial for the development of an emerging object of study. in the universities of the United Kingdom and the United States, such as the cultural studies of gastronomy.

inspiration for chefs

This summer course aims to lay the foundations for what can be a guide to good communication practices between History and Cuisine professionals in order to continue promoting this creative relationship between both disciplines. To do this, historian Rosa Tovar will sit down to chat with chefs Begoña Fraire, Javier Goya and Paco Morales. The domestic cookbook is also one of the main tools of inspiration for traditional family restaurants such as Casa José, in Aranjuez, about which chef and owner Fernando del Cerro will speak together with Iñaki Urrechu and the URJC MAGIC coordinator. , Blanca Mayandia.

The British historian Vicky Hayward, author of 'New Art of Cookery: A Spanish Kitchen Notebbok by Juan Altamiras' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), will speak about the current reading of this historic cookbook and about her working relationship with the restaurant's chef L'Escaleta, Kiko Moya, who will talk about his culinary creation process based on the historian's work.

During the course, the methodology of the project 'Historic Domestic Recipes of the Canary Islands' will be presented, which works on the recovery of these documents with the collaboration of the University of La Laguna and The Foodie Studies, as well as the project 'The Recipe Books', in the Four gastronomic journalists will participate, including Helena Vaello, who will explain her latest collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.

The course has the support of the UNESCO Chair in Communication Research of the URJC and MAGIC (Madrid Gastronomic International Center). Like the rest of the summer courses, registration will be free until full capacity is reached.