This cookbook was written by Virginia Martin. According to culinary historian Elizabeth Driver, Virginia Martin was a pseudonym used by the Colman-Keen Canada Company. Many companies used female pseudonyms for their advertising cookbooks because a female name suggested authority and knowledge of cookery. Therefore, their recipes and the information contained within the cookbook would be considered trustworthy. Throughout the cookbook, the recipes provided often utilize products manufactured by the Colman-Keen Canada Company, especially its mustard. Likely, the company published the book and offered it free to consumers in the hopes of promoting sales of their mustard and other products.