Genre and text-type conventions in Early Modern Women´s recipe books

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4995/rlyla.2017.7309

Keywords:

Recipe books, Early Modern women, manuscripts, medicine and culinary recipes

Abstract

Early Modern recipe books map onto women’s roles in the period. Women were responsible for the health and care of all their household members. This explains the women´s interest in gathering information on the topic, usually put together in manuscripts which circulated in the women´s intellectual and domestic circles to serve this purpose. The manuscript is viewed as an artefact likely to be changed to meet the needs of its users. The article seeks to explore genre and text-type conventions in a corpus of medical and culinary recipes written or compiled by women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of Early Modern Britain. The recipes in this period show patterns of continuity from medieval times but also patterns of variation to foreshadow the shape of modern recipes.

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Author Biography

Isabel de la Cruz Cabanillas, Universidad de Alcalá

Titular de Universidad

Departamento Filología Moderna

Universidad de Alcalá

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Published

2017-07-11

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Section

Articles