During the mid- to late seventeenth century, women in Irish houses from elite backgrounds started to collect recipes, which they recorded in domestic manuscripts. While these manuscripts were made elsewhere at an earlier date, they were an almost entirely new arrival to Ireland in this period, and their sudden proliferation said much about changes taking place in society at large. This book is a detailed study of such manuscripts from the perspective of historical archaeology, which will argue that they are artifacts which clearly demonstrate that a profound series of changes was taking place. The written word penetrated people's daily lives and homes to a degree that it had not in previous periods, and it had a profound influence on how they related to their world, objects, and each other. While this book will address how we can use them as sources for the study of food history and material culture, it is ultimately concerned with the meanings of manuscript recipe books, and specifically, what they say about the individuals and society that made them. The proliferation of these manuscripts signaled a profound change not just in cuisine, but also in the way people thought about and related to food as a form of material culture. Ultimately, this book will argue that these manuscripts are not simply excellent records which can tell us about "material culture" within the early modern house, but that they are a profoundly important type of artifact in their own right. Undertaking research that situates textual objects such as recipe books at the very core of historical archaeology is critical to understanding some of the most significant changes that took place in the early modern world.

From its pre-Christian origins to the present, food has always been central to Christmas; a feast at which tradition, nostalgia, innovation, symbolism, and indulgence all come together at the table. This book explores the rich story of Christmas food and feasting, tracing the history of how our festive menu evolved and inherited elements of pagan ritual, medieval traditions, early modern innovations, Victorian romanticism, and contemporary commercialism. Although it makes reference to global traditions, it focuses specifically on the story of how the British Christmas meal evolved, both on its native shores and beyond. It considers the origins, form, and structure of the modern British Christmas dinner, with its codified menu and iconic festive dishes and drinks. It also tells the story of what happened to that meal as it was taken throughout the Empire, becoming entrenched in places most strongly associated with the British Diaspora. In these places, spread across the Globe, keeping a very precise model of Christmas became a key marker of cultural identity. This British Christmas was not unchanging, though; rather, it adapted to new environments, and merged with the Christmases of other cultures encountered to create new traditions. Looking beyond Britain, to places strongly associated with its Diaspora, such as the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, helps us to understand the cultural significance and meaning of this feast with more complexity. With recipes and menus, this work will help modern readers understand the feasts of Christmas past, and perhaps incorporate some of those old dishes into Christmas-present festivities.