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Almeda Lambert (born Almeda Maria West; September 9, 1863 – March 13, 1921) was an American cookbook writer and businessperson. A Seventh-day Adventist, she authored a Guide for Nut Cookery (1899), a vegetarian cookbook with around 1,000 nut-based recipes, featuring the first recorded recipes for dairy-free ice cream, eggnog, and boiled peanuts. Alongside her husband Joseph, she co-founded two companies that played a key role in establishing the commercial production of peanut butter in the United States.
It is the object of the author to place before the public a book treating upon the use of nuts as shortening, seasoning, etc., to be used in every way in which milk, cream, butter or lard can be used, and fully take their place.The recipes included pecan butter, milk, rolls, sausages, gravy, pea-and-pecan puree, pie crust, and mince pie. Lambert also provided detailed instructions for creating homemade meat substitutes, such as "Nutora" and "Nutmeato", which were made from nut butters and cornstarch. These substitutes were used to create "mock" entrées, like turkey legs, roast turkey, lobster, goose, cutlets, and trout. For example, sticks of macaroni were used as turkey leg bones, and potato slices served as the fins and tail of the trout. The book featured these instructions alongside dim black-and-white photographs.
A Guide for Nut Cookery introduced the first known recipes for dairy-free ice creams, substituting cow's milk and cream with nut milks and butters. It also contains the first recorded recipe for non-dairy eggnog, as well as for boiled peanuts.
The book documented the development of nut-based cuisine among vegetarians in the late 19th century. It also contributed to the broader acceptance of nut cookery in American food culture and influenced subsequent cookbooks and culinary publications to include more nut-based recipes. Later vegetarian cookbooks, such as the second edition of Ella E. Kellogg's Science in the Kitchen and E. G. Fulton's Vegetarian Cook Book: Substitutes for Flesh Foods, continued to promote nut-based dishes to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians.
An 1899 review in Food, Home and Garden describes the book as a detailed and well-illustrated work on vegetarian cooking, with a focus on using nuts as a substitute for meat and dairy. It notes the book's comprehensive collection of recipes and its exploration of combining nuts, grains, fruits, and vegetables. The review highlights its presentation and originality while mentioning its price of $1.25 as a potential drawback.
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