Wikipedia

Almeda Lambert

Almeda Lambert[a] (born Almeda Maria West; September 9, 1863 – March 13, 1921) was an American cookbook writer and businessperson. A Seventh-day Adventist, she wrote Guide for Nut Cookery: Together with a Brief History of Nuts and Their Food Values (1899), a vegetarian cookbook devoted to nut-based foods. Later food-history sources have described the book as containing about 1,000 recipes and as an early source for recipes including dairy-free ice cream, non-dairy eggnog, and boiled peanuts. Lambert and her husband, Joseph Lambert, were associated with the early commercial production of peanut butter in the United States through the Lambert Nut Food Co. and related businesses that made nut products and sold nut-processing machinery.

Almeda Lambert
Title page of Guide for Nut Cookery, 1899
Born
Almeda Maria West

(1863-09-09)September 9, 1863
Marquette County, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedMarch 13, 1921(1921-03-13) (aged 57)
National City, California, U.S.
Resting place
Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego
Occupations
  • Cookbook writer
  • businessperson
Notable workGuide for Nut Cookery (1899)
Spouse
Joseph Lambert
​
(m. 1890)​
Children1

Biography

edit

Early life and family

edit

Lambert was born Almeda Maria West in Marquette County, Wisconsin, on September 9, 1863.[3][4][5] She was a Seventh-day Adventist.[6]

In 1890, she married Joseph Lambert of Battle Creek, Michigan, a former machinist who by the mid-1890s had invented a grinder for making peanut butter.[7] The couple had one daughter and later separated or divorced.[3][8]

Guide for Nut Cookery

edit
Advertisement for Guide for Nut Cookery, 1899

Lambert published Guide for Nut Cookery: Together with a Brief History of Nuts and Their Food Values in 1899.[6] In the introduction, she wrote:[9]

It is the object of the author to place before the public a book treating upon the use of nuts as shortening, seasoning, etc., to be used in every way in which milk, cream, butter or lard can be used, and fully take their place.

Contents and recipes

edit

Andrew F. Smith has described Guide for Nut Cookery as the first American cookbook devoted to cooking with nuts. It contains about 1,000 nut-based recipes, many of which had not previously been published.[10][11]

The recipes include pecan butter, nut milk, rolls, sausages, gravy, pea-and-pecan puree, pie crust, and mince pie. Lambert also provided instructions for preparing meat substitutes, including "Nutora" and "Nutmeato", made from nut butters and cornstarch. These were used for mock dishes including turkey legs, roast turkey, lobster, goose, cutlets, and trout. She described using sticks of macaroni as turkey leg bones and potato slices as the fins and tail of the trout. The book included photographs of these preparations.[12]

Food-history sources have identified Guide for Nut Cookery as an early source for dairy-free ice cream recipes using nut milks and butters in place of cow's milk and cream.[13] It has also been cited as a source for early recipes for non-dairy eggnog and boiled peanuts.[14][15]

Reception

edit

An 1899 review in Food, Home and Garden described the book as a detailed, illustrated work on vegetarian cookery, with an emphasis on using nuts as substitutes for meat and dairy. The reviewer noted the number of recipes and the discussion of combining nuts, grains, fruits, and vegetables, and commented on the book's price of $1.25.[16]

Later discussion

edit

Later accounts have discussed the book as evidence of nut-based cookery among American vegetarians in the late 19th century. Smith compares its use of nut-based foods with later vegetarian cookbooks, including the second edition of Ella Eaton Kellogg's Science in the Kitchen and E. G. Fulton's Vegetarian Cook Book: Substitutes for Flesh Foods.[11]

Business ventures

edit
Advertisement for the Lambert Nut Mill, 1900

Lambert and her husband Joseph were involved in the early commercial production of peanut butter in the United States. The Lambert Nut Food Co. was incorporated in 1900 and produced peanut butter crackers, nut products, and nut-processing machinery.[17]

The Lambert Good Food Co. was incorporated in 1901 and sold similar products. The business moved its factory to Marshall, Michigan, in 1902 and was dissolved in 1930.[17]

Death

edit

Lambert died aged 57 on March 13, 1921, at Paradise Valley Sanitarium in National City, California, where she had been receiving treatment before an operation.[18][19] According to a contemporary report, the procedure revealed tubercular problems in her intestines and was not completed. Lambert had lived in Escondido for about 20 years.[19]

Her funeral was held on March 15 in San Diego, and she was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery.[5][19]

Publications

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ↑ Her first name is sometimes recorded as Almeeta.[1][2]

References

edit
  1. ↑ Zalben, Lee (October 1, 2005). The Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook. Quirk Books. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-59474-056-5.
  2. ↑ "Who Should We Thank for Peanut Butter?". Clubs of America. December 31, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  3. 1 2 Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (March 11, 2015). Origin and Early History of Peanut Butter (1884-2015): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-928914-72-3.
  4. ↑ "West, Almeda Maria". Marriage Index Record. Wisconsin Historical Society. January 1, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  5. 1 2 "Mt. Hope Burial Registry 1868–1909" (PDF). City of San Diego. p. 124. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (October 1, 2013). "History of Soy Ice Cream and Other Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts (1899-2013)". SoyInfo Center. ISBN 978-1-928914-59-4. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  7. ↑ Griffith, Linda; Griffith, Fred (2003). Nuts: Recipes from Around the World That Feature Nature's Perfect Ingredient. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-312-26624-0 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ↑ Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (January 6, 2014). History of Seventh-day Adventist Work with Soyfoods, Vegetarianism, Meat Alternatives, Wheat Gluten, Dietary Fiber and Peanut Butter (1863-2013): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-928914-64-8.
  9. ↑ McDonald, Amy (October 17, 2014). "Rubenstein Library Test Kitchen: Ice Cream No. 3 (1899)". The Devil's Tale. Duke University Libraries. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  10. ↑ Smith, Andrew F. "A History of Food and Drink: Peanut Butter". Oxford Reference. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  11. 1 2 Smith, Andrew F. (October 28, 2013). "Nuts". Food and Drink in American History: A "Full Course" Encyclopedia. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-08547-8.
  12. ↑ Smith, Andrew F. (February 21, 2012). "The Pecan: A Culinary History" (PDF). National Pecan Shellers Association. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  13. ↑ "The Inventive 'Queens of Ices'". invention.si.edu. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  14. ↑ "A History of Eggnog". Memoirs From Mrs. Hudson's Kitchen. December 21, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  15. ↑ "A Southern Delicacy with a Rich History: The Story of Boiled Peanuts". Beltram of the Carolinas. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Guide to Nut Cookery". Food, Home and Garden: 3. December 1899 – via HathiTrust.
  17. 1 2 Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (December 18, 2014). History of Meat Alternatives (965 CE to 2014): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center. p. 922. ISBN 978-1-928914-71-6.
  18. ↑ "Almeda Lambert". California Death Index. FamilySearch. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  19. 1 2 3 "Mrs. Almeda Lambert Dies at the Sanitarium". Weekly Times-Advocate. March 18, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved March 25, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.


edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Almeda_Lambert&oldid=1357958570"