Some history books were never written with that intention - such as the cookery book by German chef Dr Oetker, which was first written 100 years ago. Today, Dr Oetker is a world-renowned German manufacturer of cakes mixes, yoghurts, frozen pizza and dessert puddings, available in almost every country across the globe.
The company prizes itself on conforming to local tastes and boasts of products with world-wide appeal. In this context, the popularity of its cookbooks comes as no surprise. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Dr Oetker's first - best-selling - cookbook, Dr Oetker's School Cookery Book. It's a work that many German have grown up with, and leafing through the pages is akin to a trip down memory lane.
The book's modern incarnation has also been translated into English, under the title German Cooking Today. It has proven to be an adaptable, reliable reference book. The tome gives insight into good times - such as weddings and birthdays - and bad times, like the post-war era.
The recipes reflect food culture and social history, from modern favourites such as pizza, pasta or tofu dishes, to the winters blighted by near-starvation during World War I. The first cookbook, published 1911 by the Bielefeld-based chemist and entrepreneur Dr August Oetker, entered German kitchens at a time of empire, war and colonialism.
This was the peak of the era of Kaiser Wilhelm when the bourgeoisie was prospering and becoming wealthier. Industrialisation was progressing, and cities were growing quickly, offering plenty of work. As a result, the nuclear family began to replace extended families. Daughters were less able to learn from their mothers and grandmothers, and kitchen gardens became a rarity in the cities.
The first edition of Dr Oetker's cookery book sought to fill in the resulting gaps in knowledge. The almost 90-page volume offered not just recipes but good housekeeping hints and general advice. This included warnings to use enough fat in cooking, as a deficit made you feel the cold, with potentially serious consequences: "A man fed on lean food will almost always reach for brandy to keep warm, especially if the household is untidy and uncomfortable."
Besides suggestions for a balanced diet, the book taught how to use a cooking hearth, gave hints on washing-up and doing the laundry as well as hygiene: "It is most deplorable for an entire family to use just one towel per week." The book recommends using a hay box cooker to save time. After half an hour on the stove, the saucepan is transferred to the box - lined with hay and wood shavings - and a couple of hours later, the food is cooked.
"The (hay) box is most important for the woman who only has time in the morning to tend to her household and is not home punctually at midday," the book says. This way, her husband can return home to a cooked meal. Recipes include dishes such as beer soup, sausage meat and "Blindhuhn" (Blind Hen), a bacon fat stew that has nothing to do with chicken.
The early editions of the book reveal a lot about the zeitgeist. This applies also to the 1937 edition, which refers to "national economic necessities," at a time when Nazi ideology promoted self-sufficiency, solidarity, thrift and the use of leftovers. The Nazis invented the "Stewpot Sunday," and encouraged people to go without meat and donate the money saved to the Winter Relief fund, an annual Nazi drive to finance charity work.
During these years, the Dr Oetker cookbook advises housewives compiling their shopping list: "One must show understanding for government measures in the fight for German food self-sufficiency, and choose down-to-earth products." A section is dedicated to leftovers, with recipes including bread soup and stuffed goose neck.
In the ensuing decades, the choice of recipes reflected social change. The household reader became a dedicated recipe book. A surge in travel and the arrival in Germany of the first "guest workers" from Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia brought foreign cuisine to the streets of Germany - and new recipes into the cookbooks. In 1984, the Dr Oetker cookbook first reacted to obesity - in a marked change from its early advice. "Following the so-called wave of gluttony when - in response to the lean war and post-war years - people consumed everything they could get hold of, we were then engulfed by a wave of luxury food consumption."
The book provided light recipes to counter the resulting "flab of prosperity." An anniversary edition of Dr Oetker's cookery book is being published for the German market, along with a retrospective on 100 years of German cuisine. Previous editions of the book have sold 19 million copies.