This article will focus on the place occupied by dietetic in the first known cookbook of the Iberian Peninsula: the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ [The cookbook]. Was pleasure eating different from healthy eating? Was there at least a will or a need to differentiate them? Disseminated clues point us in the right direction: its anonymous author – who also quoted Galen and Hippocrates – therefore inscribes the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ in the influence of the Greek dietetic tradition. Could the cost or the scarcity of certain foods allow a social distinction? Does the modus operandi of the preparations reflect a predilection of recipes for a healthy diet over a pleasure diet? These various questions reflect the complexity of establishing a clear social, dietary and economic distinction in the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ. What seems clear, however, is that the author's knowledge of medicine, diet, and cooking is undeniable.