October, National Cookbook Month, celebrates collections of recipes, instructions and information about preparation and serving of foods. These books also serve as chronicles and treasuries of the fine art of cooking, whose masterpieces were created to be consumed, or would otherwise have been lost  

Gloucester and Mathews counties have over the years certainly contributed to the world of cookbooks. It is impossible to determine just how many; however, as you will notice in the accompanying picture, which displays but a small shelf of the area’s cookbook library, there have been many, many. We celebrate the local effort here.

These days publishing a recipe is pretty simple. A few strokes of the keyboard and there it is. However, around 4,000 years ago, the only places recipes were being written down were in the tombs of the nobles, giving them the way to prepare something they would enjoy eating in the afterlife.

From being carved on stone, recipes moved to where they wer...