Might be an oversight, but a config option to start the game without a manual is standard in most mods.

Will also add that adding in the default values or settings in your config file is also common practice and would be nice to have. Such as [Default: CropsGenRate=0] as an example or something similar.

Thanks for the great mod and the time and effort you put into it.

Can you see the default value for each config options in the config GUI? In Esc-menu, click "Mod Options...", find "Cuisine", then click "Config" on the bottom-left and you will see it. I am suspecting that "include default value in our config file" may be trickier than it looks like...

Besides that - yes, that is an oversight. I sometimes get annoyed with those books, too.

Will be added in 0.3.0