Book of the Month April - Celebrating Labour Day Historically

Under the heading "Book of the Month", we present one of the approximately 12,000 books in the Adalbert Raps Spice Library every month. In 2022, the selection will be made to match the respective months, and everything from specialist books to old memorabilia to curiosities will be on offer - so it's worth taking a look!

Our Book of the Month for April is a real historical pearl and could also have been placed in May - but then it would already be too late to celebrate Labour Day on 1 May with historical recipes. Probably published in the 19th century and thus a good 200 years old, the book "Die Schnellküche" (The Fast Food Kitchen), written in Fraktur script, is at the same time also a mirror of the society of the time.

The first section of the book "Fast Food for Workers" with recipes like roasted semolina soup, veal lung or even herring salad, may seem obvious to us. Fried cheese, fried or bacon eggs and risotto are offered in the second section "Fast food for alpinists, tourists, hunters and students" for a category that is no longer familiar.

However, the third section, "Fast food for single women, white-collar workers and students", is rather surprising from today's point of view - it is not surprising that the recipes presented here are primarily for soups, egg dishes, leftover meat and desserts.

Finally, to illustrate the use of the recipes, an "example of a rational meatless diet for a week" is presented. In the preface to the book, the author reveals: "In the long run, food bought from inns and boarding houses not only causes stomach illnesses and is insufficiently nourishing, it is also bad for the wallet. - So why not celebrate 1 May historically? ... and also in a gender-appropriate way.

Book: Die Schnellküche | Emil Wirz | in 19 Jhd. | Verlag von Emil Wirz, Aarau | ISBN: -