A growing subject strength at the Fisher is culinary materials.
Our collections include early works such as Bartolomeo Scappi's Opera, Christophero di Messisbugo's Banchetti, Platina's De Honesta Voluptate, and Apicius De re culinaria.
The Fisher Library's manuscript collection includes over forty manuscript cookbooks, including items from England, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and Italy. These culinary manuscripts can provide insight into the reading, household management, and social activities of women as well as being a window into culinary trends of their time.
Many of these culinary manuscripts have been digitized and made available on our collections platform under 'Manuscripts.'
Our dedicated modern culinary collection consists of mostly Canadian and British cookbooks and culinary ephemera from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with several items such as the Cook Not Mad representing some of the earliest cookbooks published in Canada.
These can be searched using the call number 'cook' or subject headings 'cooking' or 'cookery'.
The Fisher also holds several hundred Canadian menus which can be found under call number T-10 00100 which can be searched and requested using the finding aid located here.
Please contact us for access or reference assistance