Archestratus of Gela or Syracuse (Ἀρχέστρατος) (around 330 BC). The world's first purported cookbook writer from Magna Graecia in Sicily The Life of Luxury (Italian Text)

After travelling extensively in search foreign delicacies for the table, he embodied the result in an amorous poem called Art of Cookery Ἡδυπάθεια , afterwards freely translated by Ennius under the title Hedypathica. About 300 lines this gastronomical poem are preserved through quotes by Athenaeus. The writer, who has been styled the Hesiod or Theognis of gluttons, parodies the style of the old gnomic poets; chief attention is given to details concerning fish. It has been said that his descriptions of objects for the table were so accurate that Aristotle referred to his work in giving an account of the natural history of fishes.

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.