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ANNE WILLAN’S BOOK

A FASCINATING NEW BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF COOKBOOKS
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Everyone needs a mentor. Mine is Anne Willan, founder of La Varenne, the cooking school in Paris where I trained, and the author of dozens of influential cookbooks. It gives me great pride and pleasure to announce her latest–a magnificent study of the history of cookbooks called The Cookbook Library based on Anne’s personal library.
Pop quiz: Have you ever heard of Apicius? Taillevent? La Varenne? Careme?

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Apicius wrote De Re Coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking) over 2000 years ago and lent his name to a restaurant in Paris. Taillevent was a medieval chef (and also the namesake of a Paris restaurant) and the author of Viandier, which has been in print for six centuries. (That I should be so lucky!) The 17th century chef La Varenne is credited with inventing modern French cuisine, while Careme rose from abject poverty to become the world’s first “celebrity chef”; he worked for royalty all over Europe.
In this stunning book (yes, it includes recipes), Anne tells the history of cooking–and humanity–through centuries of cookbooks. A must-read for a lover of food and cookbooks.