As with any project of this kind, one accrues many debts and it is now my pleasure to thank those who so generously contributed to its completion. First and foremost, I must thank Ken Albala. His enthusiasm for this project began during a discussion of my research during a casual meeting at the 2012 Cookbook Conference in New York City, and he asked me to write a book proposal for this series; his subsequent reading of the manuscript made what started out some years ago as an idea for an article and became instead this book. Equally important to this project is Barbara Ketcham Wheaton whom I met during her “Reading Historical Cookbooks” afternoon seminar at the same conference where I met Ken; this was followed by her week-long workshop on the same topic. This experience helped to shape the format of this book; the tools I learned from Barbara are indispensable, as is her friendship, encouragement, and support. There are those who shared archival documents: Maria Maurer, Joyce de Vries, and Catherine Fletcher, which certainly added breadth to the book. Conversations with Alison Smith helped me to formulate my ideas. As well, I need to thank Liz Kurtulik-Mercuri and Peter Rohowsky at Art Resource for chasing down an engraving of sugar sculptures that eluded me. And of course, my editor, Suzanne Staszak-Silva deserves mention for her patience and understanding as deadlines slipped by, for her reading of early drafts of three chapters, which changed how I viewed the book, and for an encouraging phone conversation. Her assistant, Kathryn Knigge, was instrumental in helping me with the images for this book, among other things, and has been a delight to work with. Finally, I which to thank my husband, William C. McIver, and many friends, who listened patiently, kept me focused, and offered never-ending support throughout the process.