Richeliu's Cookbook

What?! You don't have one? Were your parents poor or something?!

— A lesser noble talking to one of their friends

Richeliu's Cookbook is the name of a series of cookbooks made by Richeliu Gartner, a popular celebrity chef. She's lead young cooks' hands for many generations, being a common first cookbook to give to new adults or married couples.

Purpose

The book was first published by a young woman named Rissa who learned the local cuisine from local cooking groups. She stole the recipes, changing small details, and published them without credit. Naturally, some people were quite upset, but Rissa sold the book in its entirety to a publishing company, and at the time there weren't many systems in place to get stolen or plagiarised work off the market.

Rissa made sure to publish it under a false name to make sure it didn't trace back to her. She published the recipes because they weren't common knowledge to everyone living in the Ortheian Kingdoms, since they were only taught to other elves. This allowed the culture's recipes to be shared amongst anyone who could read. It also provided a good baseline for cooking for those who never had a chance to learn, such as orphans who already had a hard time in life.

Public Reaction

While at first there was public backlash because the recipes were stolen, the ease of access to a written form of very commonly used recipes was cherished by the community. It was reprinted many times, with recipes being added and removed as the culinary climate changed over the years, with each of them being named Richeliu's Cookbook.

Legacy

It has become a mainstay in most households, with each family usually passing down their one copy to the first kid that leaves the house and buying new ones for each other kid they have. It's an extremely common newlywed or housewarming gift, so much so new couples will often have multiple until they find others to give their extra copies to.

Type

Manual, Culinary

Medium

Paper