What was it like for early American women to prepare and cook for their families? With all of the hardship involved in moving to a new country, starting a new civilization and settling in to a new home, women in particular had to be a hardy, selfless and innovative group. In order to feed and nourish their families, what did they use and how did they use it? For these answers, and a lot more, a local area author, Jane Tennant, put together a historical and very interesting cookbook, Our Founding Foods. Her husband, SGB Tennant, a published author of five cookbooks in his own right, had a hand in this one so she considers it a "joint effort."

The cookbook is a collection of recipes from the first 100 years of American cookbooks. Jane Tennant shared a lot of the information she discovered while gathering information and writing the book. For instance, the earliest recipe dates from 1615 and it is a kind of bread called a Manchet. She says the recipe came from a book that came over with the Jamestown colonists and that Shakespeare ate bread like this. Also, the first truly American cookbook was published in 1796 and was authored by a young woman named Amelia Simmons, who was illiterate! The story continues with recipes written by many remarkable women, she says, who, because of the times they lived in, did not feel able to disclose their names. A young lady was not always looked kindly upon if she had a "career". She said during the Civil War era many recipes came from the pages of Godey’s Lady’s Book. Tennant said we have Fannie Farmer to thank for founding the domestic science movement.

The process in researching and writing this cookbook took two years, and involved using libraries such as the Schlesinger Library in Harvard, other cookbooks from bookstores and more. All of the recipes in her book were tested and some adapted for modern use - hearth versus oven - for example. And some ingredients used back then are not available or advisable such as lard or something called "Cottolene." Many local game birds, lobster, and other "wild" game meats were used then and the poor tomato was considered poisonous by many.

"There aren’t just recipes, but lots of biographical and historical anecdotes and information for everything from soups, entrees, breads, cakes, cookies and desserts," Tennant said.

The book will be available at the end of April. And it may be purchased online from amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and willowcreekpress.com.