Historic Antwerp cookbook auctioned for 9,600 euros: “No less than 32 times the starting amount”

9,600 euros. That is what a provisionally anonymous buyer paid on Friday afternoon for a centuries-old Antwerp cookbook. The book, which was written by hand by a housekeeper of a wealthy Antwerp family in 1788, went under the hammer at the renowned Brussels auction house Arenberg Auctions.

“This is not only a cookbook, but also a time document that provides a special insight into daily life from cook to master in Antwerp. This is one of the reasons why this extraordinary amount was offered,” says Henri Godts of Arenberg Auctions. The proceeds from it Koock Book was estimated at 300 to 400 euros before the auction. The fact that the book went under the hammer on Friday for 32 times as much is therefore as exceptional as the artefact itself.

READ ALSO. Prepare ‘Chicken with oysters’: cookbook by a wealthy Antwerp family from the eighteenth century goes under the hammer

Antwerp’s star chef Johan Segers conducted preliminary research into the book before the auction and called it “exceptional of its kind”. “Everything that could be eaten on a fish, pig or cow was also eaten,” says Segers. “Nothing was lost. That is something we have forgotten today and which we urgently need to realize again: have respect for every animal that died to feed us.”

The cookbook includes recipes for ‘chicken with oysters stewed’ and ‘marrowbone pie’. Whether the new owner of the book will try one of those recipes remains to be seen.