A cookbook's a book that contains information on cooking. It typically contains a collection of recipes, and may also include information on ingredient origin, freshness, selection and quality, for example, the Slow Food movement's ark of taste criteria. History The earliest cookbooks on record seem to be mainly lists of recipes for what'd now be called haute cuisine, and were often written primarily to either provide a record of the author's favorite dishes or to train professional cooks for ba… (More on Cookbook)