Contemporary society, aware of the impact of nutrition on the condition, quality and length of life, devotes more and more attention to the culinary aspects. In recent years meal has become extremely fashionable and is present in almost all TV stations where talented chefs - storytellers are gaining audience. Culinary themes are a frequent theme of the film. A few examples include famous Babette's Feast based on a story by Karen Blixen, or Chocolate based on the novel by Joanne Harris. Food is a topic widely described in fine literature, but the special place for it are the cookbooks. Although at nowadays specialized culinary blogs attract the biggest audience but the traditional recipes and cookbooks still are popular.

Food history and preferences over the centuries became an interesting topic also for historians, as well as cultural anthropologists and is based on archival documents and the results of archaeological research. Not so far ago they realized that the real history is not just wars, battles and treaties, history of royal families, coalition, but also the history of social and cultural changes and the broad image of traditions, customs and tastes. This trend created a series of publications that discuss everyday life, ranging from biblical times (Chouranqui A. 2012), as well as a series devoted to the history of private life in different eras - from the Roman Empire (ed. Paul Veyne) through the history of Feudalism in Europe and the Renaissance period (ed. George Duby), Enlightenment (eds. Philippe Aries, Roger Chartier) to the modern times (Michelle Perrot and Antoine Prost, Gerard Vincet). In these studies French historians become the leaders. Their achievements resulting from many years of work, translated into many languages, inspired many research teams in the other countries.

Preferencjami żywnościowymi na przestrzeni wieków zajmują się historycy, jak też antropolodzy kultury, którzy opierając się na dokumentach a także rezultatach badań archeologicznych, zdali sobie sprawę, że prawdziwa historia to nie tylko układy i traktaty polityczne, wojny, bitwy, dzieje rodów królewskich, koalicji, ale także historia przemian społecznych i kulturowych, obraz tradycji, zwyczajów i upodobań. W tym nurcie powstały serie publikacji omawiających życie codzienne, począwszy od czasów biblijnych (Chouranqui A. 2012), jak też seria poświęcona historii życia prywatnego w różnych epokach - począwszy od Cesarstwa Rzymskiego (red. Paul Veyne) przez historię czasów feudalnych w Europie i okres Renesansu (red. Georg Duby), Oświecenia (red. Philippe Aries, Roger Chartier), do czasów współczesnych (Michelle Perrot oraz Antoine Prost, Gerard Vincet). W badaniach tych prym wiedli historycy francuscy. Ich dorobek będący wynikiem wielu lat pracy, przetłumaczony na wiele języków, zainspirował zespoły badawcze w innych krajach.

In Poland, the first comprehensive study on the history of everyday life was published in 2008. It was edited by Andrzej Chwalba collective work "Customs in Poland. From the Middle Ages to modern times ". Theme of culinary traditions found here the place similar to the other topics. Mention should also be a unique work of Jedrzej Kitowicz "Description of Customs under the reign of Augustus III", which chronicle record of specific, often not very flattering behavior of representatives of various social groups, recorded by the astute observer.

Apart the historical records of everyday life, we also have other messages related to the culinary customs, including record of the famous banquet at Wierzynek organized on the occasion of the great congress of European monarchs in 1364. In Krakow called by Polish King Casimir the Great. The aim of the congress was to resolve the political conflict and the signing an agreement of "collective security system of the Central European" whose price was the marriage of Emperor Charles IV to the granddaughter of the Polish king, Elizabeth Pomeranian. Symbol of this event became described by Polish historian Jan Dlugosz sumptuous and lasted 21 days feast at Wierzynek, which attracted interest of many

Among researchers interested in the culinary arts and food in Poland definitely stands out Torun historian, Professor. Jaroslaw Dumanowski, who became an expert in this field in Poland and is the initiator of the old Polish cookbooks edition known as Monumenta Poloniae Culinaria, published by the Museum in Wilanow.

On this virtual exhibition, we try to present the history of culinary books in the world. Due to the copyright issue, not all images are placed directly on our exhibition; some of them we link to the source.