Catherine Prato

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Catherine Prato

Katharina Prato (born February 26, 1818 in Graz as Katharina Polt ; †  September 23, 1897 ibid) was the pseudonym of the Austrian cookbook author Katharina Pratobevera.

Life

She was the daughter of a privateer and at the age of 38 married Eduard Pratobevera (1811-1857), cousin of Adolf Pratobevera von Wiesborn (1806-1875) and (from 1851) provisional director of the archive and the cabinet of coins and antiquities at the Styrian State Museum Joanneum . From the family name “Pratobevera” she derived her pseudonym “Prato”. Since her husband had a bad stomach, she began to think up and write down recipes. Eduard Pratobevera died after only one year of marriage. In 1861 she married his childhood friend Josef Scheiger (1801–1886), post director and curator of Styria and Carinthia , and accompanied him on business trips, collecting recipes from inns. After her husband was ennobled in 1872, she also published it under the name Katharina Edle von Scheiger.

Katharina Prato attached great importance to orienting her cookbook Süddeutsche Küche to practice and to make it particularly understandable for beginners:

“My main purpose was to make this work as a 'guide for beginners' particularly useful for budding housewives. For this reason, I have only set up the dietary regulations for a small number of people and mainly focused on the needs of medium-sized businesses. "

- Katharina Prato : quoted from Erika Thümmel

Her literary skills earned her the designation of a "writing culinary artist". These characteristics led to her cookbook becoming an Austrian best seller.

The first edition was published by Leykam in Graz in 1858 and had 348 pages. The later editions at Styria Verlag were expanded and updated more and more, so that the 76./77. Edition finally had 1048 pages. The cookbook has also been translated into several languages. In 1931 her stepdaughter Viktorine Leitmaier gave an abridged version of Die kleine Prato. Cookbook for the small household . After the Second World War, the South German Kitchen was reissued under the title Die Große Prato .

In addition to her cookbook, she also wrote one of the first household guides, Die Hausungskunde. A guide for women and girls of all levels and was socially committed as the founder of the “Volksküche” association and the “Frauenheim” association. She also founded a girls' work school and several kindergartens.

During her lifetime she received a gold medal on the occasion of the culinary arts and household items exhibition in April 1897 in Baden near Vienna . Further honors with gold medals at the culinary art exhibitions in Trieste in 1898, Vienna in 1906 and Ostrava in 1909 were only awarded to her after her death.

It is a legend, however, that the classic phrase “Take…” also comes from Katharina Prato. She did not use this phrase any more than did her famous North German colleague Henriette Davidis , who is also assigned the authorship.

Works (selection)

  • Original edition from 1861 of Katharina Prato's cookbook
    by 1861
    The southern German cuisine from its current point of view, taking into account the now so common tea (...). 1st edition. Leykam, Graz 1858, AT-LBST .
    • The South German cuisine from its current point of view, taking into account the tea and an appendix on modern serving according to metric measurements and weight, calculated for beginners and practical cooks. 21st, revised and enlarged edition. Styria, Graz 1890. - archive.org .
    • -, Viktorine von Leitmaier (arrangement, ed.): The South German kitchen. For beginners and practical cooks . (With three color plates and 51 text figures). 34th, again improved and enlarged edition. Styria, Graz 1903. - archive.org .
  • Cookbook for officiers' cruets . Leykam, Graz 1866, AT-LBST .
  • The housekeeping. A guide for women and girls of all classes. With application of the metric measure and weight . Hesse, Graz 1873 read .
  • Catharina Pratobevera. Value and presentation of the meat extract etc. Gutenberg, Graz 1884, OBV .
  • -, Viktorine von Leitmaier (arrangement): Prato kitchen service, the food advisor for every day of the year . (Published as a supplement to the “Prato Cookbooks”). (With two illustrations in the text). Styria, Graz 1934, OBV .
  • -, Dora Larin-Zelinka (arr.): The great Prato. Cookbook of Austrian and South German cuisine, with Bohemian, English, French, Italian, Serbian and Hungarian national dishes. According to the current status d. Cookery completely rework. v. Dora Larin-Zelinka (= 80th edition of Die Süddeutsche Küche ). Hollinek, Vienna 1957, OBV .
  • -, Viktorine Leitmaier (arrangement), Dora Larin-Zelinka (arrangement): Little Prato. Cookbook for the small household. 5th, completely revised and improved edition. Hollinek, Vienna 1966, OBV .
    Dedication. Possession of a doctoral hat has something good for women. First, they are very honored, second, sometimes also taught. But the hat is not a blessing for your husband because high science doesn't like to swim in gravy and the art of cooking retreats when the housewife studies law, mathematics and chemistry, or even philosophy. It is true, the mind must not flatten, but, the landlord should laugh, the wife - instead of reading - has to keep the house in order with the spoon and the broom and manage the kitchen well. At one time Plato was highly learned, but Prato was wise. The former preached to the youth about the wholesomeness of virtue, while Prato taught us that food is even more important for raising morality. Hunger drives crime. Love also comes from the stomach - I've heard it said sometimes - And Cupid often prefers to live pratonic rather than platonic. Therefore you should honor P rato! If you follow their teachings punctually, you will soon be with the Latin doctor of culinary arts And such a doctoral hat is the most beautiful marriage asset.
    Dedication in: Katharina Prato, Die Süddeutsche Küche, Vienna and Graz 1929, Styria publishing house
  • -, Seraphine Putz (arrangement), Herbert Gyß (ill.), Gustav E. Sonnewend (ill.): Pastries from Austria . Tyrolia, Innsbruck / Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-7022-2011-9 .
  • -, Christoph Wagner (arr.): The good old kitchen. (Original edition: Katharina von Scheiger: The South German Kitchen ). Styria 2017, ISBN 978-3-222-14014-3 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Th (eodor) Graff:  Pratobevera, Eduard. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 8, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-7001-0187-2 , p. 246.
    Nekrolog. In:  Militär-Zeitung , No. 1/1858 (11th year), January 3, 1858, p. 7, center left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / mil.
  2. ^ Exhibition for culinary arts and household items. In:  Badener Zeitung , No. 33/1897 (17th volume), April 24, 1897, p. 2, top center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bzt.
  3. ↑ Biography of the month February 2018. Accessed on March 12, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Prato, Catherine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Polt, Katharina; Pratobevera, Katharina; from Scheiger, Katharina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian cookbook author
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz , Austria
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1897
Place of death Graz , Austria