Esther B. Aresty (March 26, 1908 — December 23, 2000) was a cookbook collector and culinary

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

who wrote on

cooking Cooking, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or Food safety, safe. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from ...

cookbooks A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cours ...

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and Dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, ...

, and

etiquette Etiquette ( /ˈɛtikɛt, -kɪt/) can be defined as a set of norms of personal behavior in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviors that accord with the conventions and ...

Early life and education

Esther Bradford was born March 26, 1908, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, to Lithuanian immigrants. Her family later moved to

Chariton, Iowa Chariton ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,193 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Chariton is the primary distribution center for and the former corporate headquarters ...

. Her mother was a talented pianist and cook.

Marriage, collecting and publishing

Esther met Jules Aresty while working for Mandel Brothers Department Store in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 1941, he became a co-owner of the S.P. Dunham and Co. department store in Trenton, New Jersey. After their marriage they settled in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

. They had two children. Aresty began to collect rare books during the couple's frequent travels to Europe. Her collection eventually included 576 books and 13 manuscripts from five centuries and cultures all over the world. Small but carefully chosen, it has been called "one of the country's most valuable troves of cookbook treasures". Her own publications include ''The Delectable Past'' (1964), ''The Best Behavior'' (1970), and ''The Exquisite Table'' (1980). ''The Delectable Past'' is an extensive culinary history, which she described as covering "the joys of the table - from Rome to the Renaissance, from Queen Elizabeth I to Mrs. Beeton." In addition to recreating more than 700 recipes of the past, the book discusses menus and manners, placing them in their historical context. In ''The Best Behavior'', she again drew upon her collection, discussing the development of manners as shown through courtesy and etiquette books. ''The Exquisite Table'' focused on the history of French cooking. Aresty is credited with foreshadowing current academic work on women and the kitchen, introducing the "liberating idea that food was a suitable, if indeed not essential, subject of discourse". She wrote both non-fiction and fiction. Her first published book was an adult romance, ''The Grand Venture'' (1963). She later published a teen romance novel, ''Romance in Store'' (1983) under the pseudonym Elaine Arthur. Aresty also worked as a writer and producer on

Elsa Maxwell Elsa Maxwell (May 24, 1883 – November 1, 1963) was an American gossip columnist and author, songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality and professional hostess renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures of her day. Max ...

's radio show, ''Elsa Maxwell's Party Line''. She held a position on the board of advisors of the American Institute of Wine and Food.

Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts

Aresty and her husband donated the Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1996. The collection includes, among others, the first cookbook ever printed, ''De Honesta Voluptate'' by Bartholomew de Platina, produced in Venice in 1475; a 15th-century Roman manuscript written by admirers of the Roman gourmet

Apicius ''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking''), is a collection of Food and dining in the Roman Empire, Roman cookery recipes, which may have been compiled in the fifth century CE, or ea ...

and an encomium in rhyme, written by Frederick the Great of Prussia in praise of his cook in 1772.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aresty, Esther B. 1908 births 2000 deaths American cookbook writers American women food writers Writers from Syracuse, New York People from Chariton, Iowa 20th-century American women writers Writers from Iowa American people of Lithuanian descent 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women non-fiction writers