Vegetable Cookery
Vegetable Cookery (originally published in 1812 as A New System of Vegetable Cookery) is an early vegetarian cookbook written anonymously by Martha Brotherton of Salford. It is considered the earliest known published cookbook to advocate a meat-free diet. The work was first issued in periodical form and later expanded into book editions. Brotherton and her husband, Joseph Brotherton, were prominent members of the Bible Christian Church, a religious group that promoted vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol. Her husband authored the introduction to the book. Vegetable Cookery consists of ovo-lacto vegetarian recipes and was intended to support the dietary practices of the church. It was revised and republished in several editions throughout the 19th century and has been recognised as a foundational work in the history of vegetarian literature.
 Fourth edition title page | |
| Author | Martha Brotherton |
|---|---|
| Original title | A New System of Vegetable Cookery |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Vegetarian cuisine |
| Genre | Cookbook |
Publication date | 1812 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Media type | |
| Text | Vegetable Cookery at the Internet Archive |
Vegetable Cookery (originally published in 1812 as A New System of Vegetable Cookery) is an early vegetarian cookbook written anonymously by Martha Brotherton of Salford. It is considered the earliest known published cookbook to advocate a meat-free diet. The work was first issued in periodical form and later expanded into book editions. Brotherton and her husband, Joseph Brotherton, were prominent members of the Bible Christian Church, a religious group that promoted vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol. Her husband authored the introduction to the book.
Vegetable Cookery consists of ovo-lacto vegetarian recipes and was intended to support the dietary practices of the church. It was revised and republished in several editions throughout the 19th century and has been recognised as a foundational work in the history of vegetarian literature.
Background
[edit]Martha Brotherton (née Harvey) was a member of the Bible Christian Church in Salford, a denomination that promoted vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol.[1] In 1805, she married Joseph Brotherton, a fellow church member who later became the church's minister and Salford's first Member of Parliament.[2]
As part of her involvement in the church, Martha compiled and anonymously published, in periodical form, A New System of Vegetable Cookery in 1812.[3] It has been described as the first vegetarian cookbook.[2][4][5] Her husband contributed the book's introduction.[3]
Summary
[edit]The fourth edition contains over 1,200 recipes and is divided into more than twenty sections. It opens with an introduction promoting the health, moral, and religious benefits of a vegetable-based diet, in line with the beliefs of the Bible Christian Church.[6]
The main body of the book includes recipes for soups, omelets, eggs, vegetables, salads, sauces, savoury pies and puddings, cheese-based dishes, sweet puddings, pancakes, tarts, custards, flummery, bread, biscuits, cakes, preserved fruits, pickles, and syrups. It also includes sections on spoon-meats, lemonade and sherbets, and general household tips under "Useful Family Receipts" and an appendix.[6]
The recipes are predominantly lacto-ovo vegetarian, often using ingredients such as butter, eggs, and cream, and are tailored to the dietary principles of the Bible Christian Church. Instructions cover both simple and elaborate preparations, often adapted from traditional English dishes but omitting meat and alcohol. The book includes a variety of soups (e.g. pea, spinach, onion, celery, lentil), stews, gratins, and fried dishes using a wide range of vegetables such as cucumbers, turnips, mushrooms, red cabbage, and artichokes.[6]
Legacy
[edit]Historians have noted that Brotherton's work influenced early vegetarian communities beyond Britain. According to Laura J. Miller and Emilie Hardman, the book "served as a guide for Americans who began to self-identify as vegetarian in the early decades of the nineteenth century".[7]
Kathryn Gleadle has described the book as "enormously important to the movement, forming the basis of most subsequent works on vegetable cookery".[8]
Publication history
[edit]The book was first published anonymously in periodical form in 1812 under the title A New System of Vegetable Cookery, attributed to "a member of the Bible Christian Church".[4] A second edition appeared in 1821, followed by a third edition published by Horatio Phillips of London in 1829 under its best-known title, Vegetable Cookery.[4]
The fourth edition was issued in 1833 by Effingham Wilson and expanded to include 1,261 recipes. It was also published anonymously, credited only to "a lady".[4] Two further editions appeared in 1839 and 1852.[4] The 1852 edition includes a foreword by James Simpson, the first president of the Vegetarian Society.[9]
See also
[edit]- Bibliography of veganism and vegetarianism
- History of vegetarianism
- History of English cuisine
- Primitive Cookery, 18th-century semi-vegetarian cookbook
References
[edit]- ^ "Joseph & Martha Brotherton". V for Life. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
- ^ a b "Biography: Martha Brotherton". Weaste Cemetery Heritage Trail. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
- ^ a b Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (2002). "Biographical Index of British Vegetarians and Food reformers of the Victorian Era". The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c.1840–1901: A Study of Its Development, Personnel and Wider Connections (PDF) (PhD thesis). Vol. 2. University of Southampton. pp. 19–20.
- ^ a b c d e Antrobus, Derek (1997). A Guiltless Feast: The Salford Bible Christian Church and the Rise of the Modern Vegetarian Movement. City of Salford Education and Leisure. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-901952-57-8.
- ^ Phelps, Norm (2007). The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA. Lantern Books. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-59056-106-5.
- ^ a b c Brotherton, Martha (1833). Vegetable Cookery: With an Introduction, Recommending Abstinence From Animal Food and Intoxicating Liquors (4th ed.). London: E. Wilson.
- ^ Miller, Laura J.; Hardman, Emilie (2015). "By the Pinch and the Pound: Less and More Protest in American Vegetarian Cookbooks from the Nineteenth Century to the Present". In Baughman, James L.; Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jennifer; Danky, James P. (eds.). Protest on the Page: Essays on Print and the Culture of Dissent Since 1865. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 114–115. ISBN 978-0-299-30284-9.
- ^ Gleadle, Kathryn (2003). "'The Age of Physiological Reformers': Rethinking Gender and Domesticity in the Age of Reform". In Burns, Arthur; Innes, Joanna (eds.). Rethinking the Age of Reform: Britain 1780–1850. Past and Present Publications. Cambridge University Press. pp. 200–219. ISBN 978-0-521-82394-4. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
- ^ "Vegetable & Vegetarian". Old and Vintage Cookbooks. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
External links
[edit]- Vegetable Cookery: With an Introduction, Recommending Abstinence from Animal Food and Intoxicating Liquors at the Internet Archive (4th edition)
- Pumpkin soup recipe adapted from Vegetable Cookery at History in the Making
- Flummery and pea soup recipes from Vegetable Cookery on The Feast podcast