When it all started- History of Cooking Recipes

Cooking is a science and also an art. The history of cooking dates back as far back as 1.8 million to 2.3 million years ago and coincides with the evidence of invention of fire by man.

The process of preparing food is now a well-defined one. It is done by applying heat, selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food is highly advanced in modern times. The process encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combination of ingredients to alter the flavor, appearance, texture, or digestibility of food. Factors affecting the final outcome include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the individual doing the actual cooking.

That skill is what will decide how good a recipe’s outcome will be. A recipe is a set of instructions that show how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish. In simple terminology, it is the protocol of food-preparation.
What a recipe may incorporate?
Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components: The name of the dish, How much time it will take to prepare the dish?, the required ingredients along with their quantity, equipment and environment needed to prepare the dish, an ordered list of preparation steps and the number of servings that the recipe will provide.
Some recipes may even note how long the dish will keep and its suitability for freezing. Nutritional information, such as calories per serving and grams of protein, fat, and carbohydrates per serving, may also be given.
Earlier, recipes often included much less information, serving more as a reminder of ingredients and proportions for someone who already knew how to prepare the dish.

Recipe writers sometimes also list variations of a traditional dish, to give different tastes of the same recipes.
The earliest known recipes date from approximately 1600 BC and come from an Akkadian tablet from southern Babylonia. Most of these are are lost now like the ancient Egyptians , Greek recipes, Roman recipes and Latin recipes. However, some Punic recipes are known in Greek and Latin translation. The Romans introduced many herbs and spices into western cuisine, Renfrew states that thyme, bay, basil, fennel, rue, mint, parsley and dill were all common in Roman cooking.
Much later, in the 4th or 5th century, appears the large collection of recipes conventionally entitled 'Apicius', the only more or less complete surviving cookbook from the classical world. It chronicles the courses served which are usually referred to as Gustatio (appetizer), Primae Mensae (main course) and Secundae Mensae (dessert).Arabic recipes are documented starting in the 10th century.
During the 1500s and 1600s competition between the large houses became common place and numerous books were written on how to manage households and prepare food. In Holland and England competition grew between the noble families as to who could prepare the most lavish banquet. By the 1660s cookery had progressed to an art form and good cooks were in demand. Many of them published their own books detailing their recipes in competition with their rivals.
Many of these books have now been translated and are available online.
By the 1800s, Cooking had become a passion throughout the world.
Using the latest technology and using a new concept in publishing, Mrs Beeton (Isabella Mary Beeton 1836 – 1865) published her famous ‘Book of Household Management’, in the new format of 24 monthly parts between 1857 and 1861.
Around the same time the American cook Fannie Farmer (Fannie Merritt Farmer 1857 – 1915) was born and having devoted herself to cooking published in 1896 her famous work ‘The Boston Cooking School Cookbook’ which contained some 1849 recipes.
By the mid 1900s, there were literally thousands of cookery and recipe books available.
The next revolution came with introduction of the TV cooks. The first TV cook in England was Fanny Craddock who had her show on the BBC, later followed by chefs such as Graham Kerr (known as the Galloping Gourmet).
Today the television has found a back-up with Internet websites giving the details of all their recipes. Still today, despite the Internet, cookery books are as popular if not more so than they have ever been.