A Palatable Journey through the Pages: Bengali Cookbooks and the 'Ideal' Kitchen in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

摘要

This paper evaluates how Bengali cookbook writing, which was a new phenomenon in the colonial era, sought to add new dimensions to the kitchen in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The cookbooks of colonial Bengal highlighted the special significance of culinary art in order to make food "tasty," "healthy," and "satisfactory." In attempting to provide "total" knowledge, those cookbooks did not confine themselves to mouth-watering recipes; more importantly, they defined the ways in which an "ideal" kitchen could be developed and maintained. Therefore, cookbooks became a repository of knowledge regarding hygiene, organization, and the equipment needed for an improved kitchen. This paper will investigate how Bengali cookbooks introducednew foods, cooking techniques, and aesthetics of culinary practice and kitchen maintenance. It also shows how cookbooks were even incorporated in the advertising and marketing strategies of Bengal businesses of the late colonial period.