The Compleat Housewife

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The Compleat Housewife

The Compleat Housewife, or Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion, written by Eliza Smith and originally published in London, England in 1727, is considered the first cookbook to ever be published in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. The Compleat Housewife contained not only recipe

Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions that show how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish .Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components:...
s, but also directions for painting rooms, removing mildew, and home remedies for treating ailments, such as smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"....
.

The Compleat Housewife was published in the United States for the first time in 1742, by William Parks, a Williamsburg, Virginia

Williamsburg, Virginia

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United States

Recipe

Smallpox

Williamsburg, Virginia

Williamsburg is a city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads region in southeastern Virginia. As of the United States Census 2000, the city had a total population of 11,998....
printer. He printed and sold the cookbook, believing that there was a strong market for it with Virginia housewives who wished to be current with the London fashion. Parks was the founder of the Maryland Gazette

The Capital

The Capital is a daily newspaper published in Annapolis, Maryland. It serves the city as well as all of Anne Arundel County and neighboring Kent Island, Maryland in Queen Anne's County....
(now known as the The Capital), and published a number of minor books and pamphlets before printing The Compleat Housewife, which became his major book publication. The book that was published in America was the fifth London edition, which was a best seller of the time.

During the 18th century, British

Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
books including The Compleat Housewife were reprinted in Boston, New York

New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
and Philadelphia. When The Compleat Housewife was printed in 1742, Parks made an attempt to have the cookbook altered to American "taste", deleting certain recipes, "the ingredients or materials for which are not to be had in this country."

When Eliza Smith wrote The Compleat Housewife, she showed "her self-assurance to attack English attitudes toward food and women cooks." In the book's preface

Preface

A preface is an introduction to a book written by the author of the book. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface....
, Smith chides the male culinary writers of her time. She claimed that they concealed their best recipes from the public. The Compleat Housewife title page describes the book as a