As a general rule, the older the cookbook the more likely it is to provide historical and instructional material. For instance, Amelia Simmons'
American Cookery (1796) actually includes instructions for things like choosing meat and produce.
Usually, however, culinary books with a good deal of historical and cultural information are written from that point of view. Recipes are used more for examples than as the typical cookbook. One exception, if you can find it, is
The Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Dining. Yeah, that really is the title, not the first chapter. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif
But the fact remains, food history is percieved as a separate discipline from cookbooks per se. So wonderful books such as Mark Kurlansky's
Salt and Joe Dabney's
Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine might not be found with the cookbooks, even though the library or bookstore has it. So, if you're a browser, they'd be easy to overlook.
Salt might be in the history section, rather than cooking, and
Smokehouse Ham.... with Appalachian regional stuff.
There's this question, too: when does a book stop being a cookbook and become a biography? Case in point: Edna Lewis's great volumes, such as
The Taste of Country Cooking. Is it a cookbook? Or a memoir with recipes?
With more modern books, the greater the degree of ethnicity the more likely there is to be background and cultural material as well as recipes. See, for instance, my upcoming review of
The Turkish Cookbook. Reasons for this should be obvious, a primary one being that the authors, justifiably, assume we are, if not unfamiliar with the cuisine, at least less familiar with it. While most publishers have some titles of that nature, Hippocrene Books specializes in them, and you might check out their list.
Cumberland House (publishers of the aforementioned Cajun & Creole Etc.) had several such titles, until closing its doors last year. You might keep your eyes open from that orientation.
Gosh, ain't you glad you asked. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif