Food History

It’s far too long since I introduced you to a community cookbook, so I’m making up for it by giving you an extra-interesting one. The Barossa Valley is one of the world’s top wine-producing regions and it’s far too long since I visited it. My copy of the Barossa Cookery Book was produced by Barossa News Print, Tanunda (Tanunda is such a perfect name for a fantasy character - one day I shall invent a fantasy world using Aussie town names for all my characters, I swear). My copy is a little battered and well-used and it was one of the very first books of this kind that I ever owned.

You will be pleased to know that the book contains ‘1000 selected recipes from a district celebrated throughout Australia for the excellence of its cookery” and “Every recipe of proved merit and signed as such by the donors.” Also that the proceeds from the book went to the Tanunda Soldiers’ Memorial Hall. It cost 2 shillings and was a small brown paperback.

I have the fifth edition, and print numbers had reached 30,000 copies. One day I must find out just how many have been printed to date. It’s still very much in print, you see. The current edition is number 33, though the book’s now published by the Barossa Regional Gallery. It still has 160 pages and I bet it still has that rather fab recipe for green tomato pickle. My copy has pictures that look vaguely 1930s/40s (and one of the major editions was 1932) but apart from that, there’s no clear way of dating it. Unless Wartime Pudding recipe is indicative.

It’s such an important piece of culinary history, that it has an article all to itself in History Australia (v. 3 No. 2 December 2006). Angela Heuzenroeder talks about the cuisine in its context, discussing the fusion of German and English cultures in the cuisine. You can find the article here (it costs).

Tomorrow I’ll give you a couple of the recipes from this book. It’s hard to choose, so if you’ve got favourite recipes, just ask. Otherwise I might hunt out some biscuits or scones, to add to my little collection of biscuit and scone recipes. Also, maybe a jam recipe, so you can have your scones the traditional way, with jam and cream.

food history, Barossa, cookbook, cookery