“All that life has requires nourishment,” wrote Fannie Farmer in her innovative cookbook that was first published today–January 7th–in 1896. In the “Boston Cooking School Cookbook,” Farmer introduced the science of food, nutrition, “tried and tested recipes” and standard measurement such as a teaspoon that must be “level.” Although left with a pronounced limp after a bout of paralysis in her right leg when she was a teenager, Fannie Farmer ran her own cooking school, Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, and traveled widely giving lectures, even after having two strokes and being confined to a wheelchair. We have a well-used copy of the tenth (1959) edition that once belonged to Linda’s mother. Her Italian mother and aunt, Linda remembers, faithfully followed Farmer’s cookbook to learn “American cooking.” The images are our well-used copy and two illustrations: “A Few Aromatic Herbs” and “Simple Garnishes”
