Cookbooks form important, though often overlooked, parts historical research. Despite cookbook manuscripts not always having clear marginalia, I posit that they offer an avenue for understanding Mexican familial sociability and relationships as they relate to activities around food – primarily, cooking. Perhaps, they are a starting point for offering insight into the more sentimental and interpersonal aspects of mother-daughter relationships, intergenerational knowledge production, childrearing, and even children’s (or young women’s) pastimes.
In Mexico, Jeffrey Pilcher has studied them in the context of nation-building.[1] Luce Giard has argued that eating is not solely an activity to satiate a bodily need but is also a way in which a person relates to the world around them; and that – these relations are embedded in specific times and places.[2] Giard then directly links one type of social relationship with food to childhood. The food and flavours eaten in childhood can have strong sentimental bonds that are tied to specific people: for example, mother and grandmother. [3] The nineteenth century Mexican manuscript cookbooks explored here: Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas (Recipes That My Mother Wrote with Love for Her Daughters) and the two volume Herencia de sabores (Inherited Flavours) and Delicias y sabores (Treats and Flavours), directly invoke familial and matrilineal relationships. [4]
Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas (1888) contains recipes on only forty-eight of the pages with the rest left blank (figures 1 and 2). The notebook is unlined, and only forty-eight of the pages contain written recipes, with the rest of the pages left blank. On the first page there is a pasted cut out of a woman and young girl embracing, and a girl of toddler age seated, and reaching out to them. The facing page contains the title: Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas, and information such as the year: 1888, origin: Mexico, the initials V.R., and two additional paper cut outs of a bird and a woman. This title conveys sentimentality and love between a mother and her daughters, which is further emphasised when paired with the cover picture (fig. 1). It seems that the cut out of the woman with the two young girls is supposed to represent the mother and daughters from the title.
The production of this cookbook manuscript implies that there were at least two people involved in its creation: a mother who wrote the recipes, and at least one of the daughters who compiled them. The possessive of “my mother” in the title gives ownership of the manuscript to one of the daughters and, thus, it is unclear whether the mother or one of the daughters transcribed the recipes. Recetas differs significantly from other cookbook manuscripts, in structure and presentation from the same period. For example, it was not uncommon for people to title, number their recipes, and write page numbers.[5] This shows that there was a commonly used format for putting together manuscripts, even if they were for personal use. By contrast, in Recetas the handwriting is not as clearly legible and, whilst the recipes are titled, it is not as distinct to effectively separate it from the method of the recipe itself – structurally, and visually, this manuscript is much messier.
The second set of primary sources, Herencias de sabores (1888) and Delicias y sabores (1889) are a set of two volumes that follow a similar visual format to Recetas. In Herencias (fig. 3), the cover page contains a pasted picture of two young women outside and a young girl. The facing page contains the following information: Deliciosas recetas que me heredo mi abuela y mi madre (Delicious recipes passed down to me from my grandmother and my mother), 1888, Mexico, and the initials V.R.. Similarly, the cover page of Delicias y sabores (fig. 4) has a pasted in banquet scene, and the facing page has the title: Delicias llena de sabores y aromas herencia de mi mama (Delicious treats full of flavours and aromas, inherited from my mother). Additionally, it also has the date: 1889, Mex., and the initials V.R..[6] The final page has another pasted cut out of a woman sitting in a chair with a book in her hand and an inscription underneath: con amor a mi madre (with love for my mother). Despite these three manuscript cookbooks being housed by two different collections they contain almost identical formatting, and, potentially, could be from the same family given the same initialling. The main, noticeable difference is that the handwriting in Recetas is different to Herencias and Delicias which suggest that these were a family project involving the mother and multiple daughters.
Perhaps, what we see here is a merging of an oral tradition with that of textual recording, and the passing down of culinary knowledge through the matrilineal line. The title of Herencias indicates that the recipes come from both the mother and the grandmother, making it at least two generations of culinary knowledge that is being recorded. But it really is only in the titles – and in the final note of Delicias – where familial bonds are explicitly expressed. The titles invoke sentimentality and love from the side of the daughter towards her mother. Recording these recipes appears to be a way of maintaining intergenerational connection. The recipes themselves seem to hold enough sentimental value that writing them down was deemed a worthwhile endeavour.
Notes
[1] Jeffrey Pilcher, ¡Que Vivan Los Tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (University of New Mexico Press, 1998).
[2] Michele de Certeau, et al., The Practice of Everyday Life, Vol. 2 (University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 183-4.
[3] de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, 183-4, 188.
[4] Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas (Mexico: 1888), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/16106.; Rivera, Virginia. Herencia de sabores (Puebla de Zaragoza, 1888), https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb8062193q.; Rivera, Virginia. Delicias y sabores (Puebla de Zaragoza, 1889), https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb8062193q.
[5] See: Guadalupe Perez, Libro de Recetas de Cocina (Acatzinco, 1884), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/11257.;
Cocinera Mexicana, (1882), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/15737.;
Manuela Heredia y Cervantes, Mexican Cooking Notebook: Manuscript (1886), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/12094.;
Concepción Lerma de Chacón, Libro de Cosina de la Sra Concepción Lerma de Chacón (Mexico, 1899), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/19468.;
Coleccion de Recetas para Guisos y Dulces, (1860), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/18907.
[6] The metadata from UCSD Special Collections names the creator as Virginia Rivera.
Cookbooks form important, though often overlooked, parts historical research. Despite cookbook manuscripts not always having clear marginalia, I posit that they offer an avenue for understanding Mexican familial sociability and relationships as they relate to activities around food – primarily, cooking. Perhaps, they are a starting point for offering insight into the more sentimental and interpersonal aspects of mother-daughter relationships, intergenerational knowledge production, childrearing, and even children’s (or young women’s) pastimes.
In Mexico, Jeffrey Pilcher has studied them in the context of nation-building.[1] Luce Giard has argued that eating is not solely an activity to satiate a bodily need but is also a way in which a person relates to the world around them; and that – these relations are embedded in specific times and places.[2] Giard then directly links one type of social relationship with food to childhood. The food and flavours eaten in childhood can have strong sentimental bonds that are tied to specific people: for example, mother and grandmother. [3] The nineteenth century Mexican manuscript cookbooks explored here: Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas (Recipes That My Mother Wrote with Love for Her Daughters) and the two volume Herencia de sabores (Inherited Flavours) and Delicias y sabores (Treats and Flavours), directly invoke familial and matrilineal relationships. [4]
Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas (1888) contains recipes on only forty-eight of the pages with the rest left blank (figures 1 and 2). The notebook is unlined, and only forty-eight of the pages contain written recipes, with the rest of the pages left blank. On the first page there is a pasted cut out of a woman and young girl embracing, and a girl of toddler age seated, and reaching out to them. The facing page contains the title: Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas, and information such as the year: 1888, origin: Mexico, the initials V.R., and two additional paper cut outs of a bird and a woman. This title conveys sentimentality and love between a mother and her daughters, which is further emphasised when paired with the cover picture (fig. 1). It seems that the cut out of the woman with the two young girls is supposed to represent the mother and daughters from the title.
The production of this cookbook manuscript implies that there were at least two people involved in its creation: a mother who wrote the recipes, and at least one of the daughters who compiled them. The possessive of “my mother” in the title gives ownership of the manuscript to one of the daughters and, thus, it is unclear whether the mother or one of the daughters transcribed the recipes. Recetas differs significantly from other cookbook manuscripts, in structure and presentation from the same period. For example, it was not uncommon for people to title, number their recipes, and write page numbers.[5] This shows that there was a commonly used format for putting together manuscripts, even if they were for personal use. By contrast, in Recetas the handwriting is not as clearly legible and, whilst the recipes are titled, it is not as distinct to effectively separate it from the method of the recipe itself – structurally, and visually, this manuscript is much messier.
The second set of primary sources, Herencias de sabores (1888) and Delicias y sabores (1889) are a set of two volumes that follow a similar visual format to Recetas. In Herencias (fig. 3), the cover page contains a pasted picture of two young women outside and a young girl. The facing page contains the following information: Deliciosas recetas que me heredo mi abuela y mi madre (Delicious recipes passed down to me from my grandmother and my mother), 1888, Mexico, and the initials V.R.. Similarly, the cover page of Delicias y sabores (fig. 4) has a pasted in banquet scene, and the facing page has the title: Delicias llena de sabores y aromas herencia de mi mama (Delicious treats full of flavours and aromas, inherited from my mother). Additionally, it also has the date: 1889, Mex., and the initials V.R..[6] The final page has another pasted cut out of a woman sitting in a chair with a book in her hand and an inscription underneath: con amor a mi madre (with love for my mother). Despite these three manuscript cookbooks being housed by two different collections they contain almost identical formatting, and, potentially, could be from the same family given the same initialling. The main, noticeable difference is that the handwriting in Recetas is different to Herencias and Delicias which suggest that these were a family project involving the mother and multiple daughters.
Perhaps, what we see here is a merging of an oral tradition with that of textual recording, and the passing down of culinary knowledge through the matrilineal line. The title of Herencias indicates that the recipes come from both the mother and the grandmother, making it at least two generations of culinary knowledge that is being recorded. But it really is only in the titles – and in the final note of Delicias – where familial bonds are explicitly expressed. The titles invoke sentimentality and love from the side of the daughter towards her mother. Recording these recipes appears to be a way of maintaining intergenerational connection. The recipes themselves seem to hold enough sentimental value that writing them down was deemed a worthwhile endeavour.
Notes
[1] Jeffrey Pilcher, ¡Que Vivan Los Tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (University of New Mexico Press, 1998).
[2] Michele de Certeau, et al., The Practice of Everyday Life, Vol. 2 (University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 183-4.
[3] de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, 183-4, 188.
[4] Recetas que escribió mi madre con amor para sus hijas (Mexico: 1888), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/16106.; Rivera, Virginia. Herencia de sabores (Puebla de Zaragoza, 1888), https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb8062193q.; Rivera, Virginia. Delicias y sabores (Puebla de Zaragoza, 1889), https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb8062193q.
[5] See: Guadalupe Perez, Libro de Recetas de Cocina (Acatzinco, 1884), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/11257.;
Cocinera Mexicana, (1882), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/15737.;
Manuela Heredia y Cervantes, Mexican Cooking Notebook: Manuscript (1886), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/12094.;
Concepción Lerma de Chacón, Libro de Cosina de la Sra Concepción Lerma de Chacón (Mexico, 1899), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/19468.;
Coleccion de Recetas para Guisos y Dulces, (1860), https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll10/id/18907.
[6] The metadata from UCSD Special Collections names the creator as Virginia Rivera.
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
RA Kashanipour (September 18, 2026). Kinship in the Kitchen: Reading Mexican Cookbook Manuscripts for Familial Sentimentality. The Recipes Project. Retrieved October 5, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/16syw