Research project This project aims to seek an answer to the question or mystery of why it was Cajsa Warg’s cookbook that gained such incredible popularity and not one of the other contemporary alternatives.
The expected outcome of the project is to solve the mystery or at least question of why Cajsa Warg’s cookbook became so popular and why other cookbooks of the time were not awarded the same attention. The study maps the prices of the ingredients used in the various cookbooks, as well as investigates the flavours that the various cookbook authors used in their books. This research also aims to show the differences and similarities of the various categories of dishes in the cookbooks.
The project “Sweden’s most famous cook” focuses on Cajsa Warg’s cookbook published in 1755 and paid for by the author herself with money gained from an inheritance. The cookbook was published in fourteen editions, many of which came out after Cajsa Warg had passed. Some of the later editions also contained an appendix added after her death.
The project seeks to solve the question or mystery of how Cajsa Warg’s cookbook reached such popularity in her time and how come none of the other contemporary cookbooks took its place in the limelight.
Other contemporary cookbooks are used in comparison to Cajsa Warg’s cookbook to establish differences and similarities in the various categories of dishes. The flavours in the dishes are also analysed to distinguish what flavour combinations and categories of flavours the authors recommended in their books. The method of study is close reading of the cookbooks in question and price lists from the 1700s to establish the cost of the ingredients.
