The English and Australian Cookery Book

The English and Australian Cookery Book is considered to be the first Australian cookbook. Published in London in 1864, the full title of the first edition reads: The English and Australian Cookery Book: Cookery for the Many, as well as the Upper Ten Thousand - by an Australian Aristologist. The unnamed author was in fact a Tasmanian named Edward Abbott,

Abbott was the son of a Canadian-born military officer, posted from NSW to Hobart in 1815 to become deputy judge advocate. Abbott junior rose from the position of clerk in his father’s office to become a key player in the colony as wealthy grazier, coroner and parliamentarian. He lost much of his wealth, and years of his prime, to an epic legal battle with colonial authorities over a rescinded land grant. Eccentric, he is said to have been the first person to try to raise thylacine cubs, his writing suggests he was something of an early Australian nationalist. While proselytising the science, art and etiquette of fine dining — or “aristology” as he called it — he had a quick temper and at one time assaulted the premier of the day with his umbrella, apparently in a rage related to his ongoing legal wrangle with the government. Shortly before his death in 1869, Abbott sent his will to son Frederick, one of his four children, along with an apology of sorts. “I leave but little, I tried to speculate in wheat, flour and oats — but failed owing to the rascality of commission agents,” he explained. However Abbott did manage to leave the legacy of his cookbook - it is much more than a collection of recipes. Within its green and gold cover, illustrated with a stylised globe depicting the opposite nature of the seasons between hemispheres, are near 300 pages crammed with wit and wisdom, as well as wickedly good recipes.

In 1970, a selection of material from Abbott's original version was republished under the title The Colonial Cook Book: the Recipes of a By-gone Australia, edited by Alison Burt. Although now out of print, this abridged edition may be found in specialist second-hand booksellers or in larger institutional libraries in Australia.

In his gastronomic history of Australia, Michael Symons often refers to Abbott's cookery book, devoting a chapter to its contents. He viewed it as a positive first step in the emerging Australian culinary tradition and lamented that the book did not have more than one edition.

An exact facsimile was published in Tasmania in 2014 to mark the sesquicentenary (150 years) of Abbott's original publication. This slipcased edition includes a Companion Volume in contrasting gilt foil cover with authoritative essays by Professor Barbara Santich, Food Studies, Adelaide University (Bold Palates); seminal Australian culinary history author Michael Symons (One Continuous Picnic) and the world authority on Edward Abbott, Tony Marshall - as well as interpretive recipes by Sally Wise (A Year in a Bottle) and cocktails by historian Sebastian Reaburn.

While many reference Abbott's cookery book as the first Australian cookbook, few until now have analysed its contents in detail.

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