International Cookbooks

Window to the World

Section 4 is truly a window to the culinary world. This is the part of the library where you will find all of the international cookbooks and recipe collections.

It is a sort of gastronomic tour through foreign countries with information about local ingredients and preparations.

There are books in Italian, as well as French, English, Spanish and even Hungarian, Russian, Japanese and Chinese.

There is also a rich collection of books in more than one language.

A gastronomic tour around the world

As is the case with other sections of the Gastronomic Library, the collection of international cookbooks begins with general texts and then moves into more specific books based on geographical region.

Some of the general cookbooks are Kulinarische Weltreise, by Grete Willinsky, Great Dishes of the World by Robert Carrier and the classic, but hard to find, Il Gourmet internazionale by Luigi Carnacina, published by Garzanti in 1963.

The gastronomic tour then moves across all five continents, beginning in Europe with the food of Spain and Portugal with books about Asturias, the Basque Countries and Valencia cooking.

And of course, there are all the books on French cuisine, including Recettes et paysages from 1950 and the cookbook Les plats regionaux de France by Austin De Croze, published in Paris in 1928.

The regional cooking of France is covered in books about Perigord, Brittany, Burgandy, Provence, and Corsica. Even the Central and Eastern European countries are included in the collection, like the great Austrian cookbook Die ôsterreichische Kuche.

The allure of the Far East

This part of the collection contains all of the books and cookbooks dedicated to Asian cooking.

There are over 30 books about Chinese cuisine – one of the most common throughout the world – including La cucina dei cinesi, published in Italy by Mazzotta in1973, with an insightful preface written by Ugo Tognazzi, a famous Italian actor and food lover.

The Japanese books, especially those written about sushi and sashimi, are of particular interest to Italians familiar with pesce crudo, or Italian-style raw fish.

Here, you will also find information on South Asian cuisine, Indian food and even the specialties found on the African continent.

The food of the New World

There are over 50 books published in North and South America.

From the United States, we have collected a number of texts, including the Picture Cook Book, an oversized picture book published by Life Magazine in 1961, in addition to the smaller books about the food of individual states or cities like Martha’s Vineyard, San Francisco, Louisiana and Carolina.

We even have a copy of the intriguing memoirs of a housewife in Hollywood.

From Central America, an area known for its original island cuisine, we are hthrilled to have a copy of Antilles et Guyane a travers leur cuisine, from 1967.

And to round out the collection, there are books describing the culinary specialties of Chile and Peru. In addition to local culinary tradition, there is a large selection of texts that examine the influences of one culture on another.

These books document the fusion of different cuisines.