The Congo Cookery Book Willett, Clare E. Africa,COOKING

An early cookbook published in the Congo, with a section reprinting recipes from an earlier cookbook that is not recorded in OCLC or the Belgian national library. According to the introduction by Madeleine (Neve) Ryckmans (the wife of the Governor General), the author, probably a British colonist, had spent 30 years in the Congo. The book, written for European settlers and their "native" cooks, has "many varied recipes, all of which can be made from ingredients easy to obtain in the Congo." The book was published as a fundraiser for the British Women's War Work fund. The recipes are mostly European, with some adjustment for Africa, particularly produce, including cashew apples, carambola, cassava, cocoa beans, coeur de boeuf (a French tomato), custard apple, various native species of fish, guava, Brazil cherries, mango, maracoudja (passion fruit), pai pai (papaya), and water lilies. Recipes are provided for yeastless breads including a Congo version made with palm wine. The meat section offers advice for substituting local meats like hippopotamus, monkey, and elephant trunk for beef and pork. Keeping goats is recommended as a way to have fresh milk, if they are kept "well protected from leopards." The final section, on Congo products, reprints English translations of recipes from a cookbook in the Kikongo language by (Ruth?) Engwall of the American Baptist Mission. No copy of this cookbook appears to be recorded. The low survival rate of that cookbook is not surprising given the advice for books in the household hints section: Books "need to be cleaned thoroughly, tapped with a stick, and put in the sun with the pages lying open (stand the books on end half-open). If this is not done at regular intervals, books become worm-eaten." [12], 248 pages, including many ads for businesses in the Congo. First edition (first and only printing). A very good copy in printed paper-covered boards with a cloth spine. With short tears to a few pages and wear to the board edges. Previous owner's name (L. Watkins) on front cover.