The Handwritten Recipe Notebook as a Place of Memory
A handwritten recipe notebook is not a mere domestic collection of recipes, but a material support for an immaterial tradition that combines culinary knowledge with commensality practices. These are formalized texts (a title, a list of ingredients, and directions) activated through the oral performa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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National Museum of the Romanian Peasant
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Martor |
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| Online Access: | http://martor.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/archive/martor-27-2022/2022_08/ |
| Summary: | A handwritten recipe notebook is not a mere domestic collection of recipes, but a material support for an immaterial tradition that combines culinary knowledge with commensality practices. These are formalized texts (a title, a list of ingredients, and directions) activated through the oral performance of a formalized setting (the food preparation process), which combines sequences of gestures instead of (or together with) words, or/and through a writing activity (copying a model or transcribing the recipe after dictation). The final material artefact (namely the dish and the written recipe) incorporates the syncretic and immaterial memories of all previous performances. A recipe notebook is not a simple anthology of texts either, it is instead a subjective “critical edition” which grows page by page, according to imperceptible selection criteria; with the passing of time, the pages become impregnated with smells, traces of pots of oil or sugar, children’s fingerprints, figurative drawings, etc. |
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| ISSN: | 1224-6271 2734-8350 |