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What is Food History?
Entry from The Cambridge World History of Food 
Since the 1970s, historical studies of food in particular cultures have emerged as a new field, “food or culinary history.” Culinary history studies the origins and development of the foodstuffs, equipment, and techniques of cookery, the presentation and eating of meals, and the meanings of these activities to the societies that produce them. It looks at practices on both sides of the kitchen door, at the significance of the food to the cook and to those who consume it, and at how cooking is done and what the final product means. Consequently, culinary history is widely interdisciplinary. Studies make connections between the sciences – medical, biological, and social – and the humanities and draw heavily on anthropology, economics, psychology, folklore, literature, and the fine arts, as well as history. These multidisciplinary perspectives are integrated along geographic and temporal dimensions, and as a consequence, culinary history encompasses the whole process of procuring food from land or laboratory, moving it through processors and marketplaces, and finally placing it on the stove and onto the table. It emphasizes the role that food-related activities play in defining community, class, and social status – as epitomized in such fundamental human acts as the choice and consumption of one's daily bread.
Culinary history can also be defined by what it is not. It is not, for example, simply a narrative account of what was eaten by a particular people at a particular time. Nor is it a matter of rendering entertaining stories about food, or telling anecdotes of people cooking and eating, or surveying cookbooks. It is instead an informed analysis of how food expresses the character of a time, place, society, and culture. Put plainly, culinary history goes beyond anecdotal food folklore and descriptions of cuisine and cooking at a particular point in time to incorporate historical dimensions.
Reference Sources
- Cambridge World History of FoodRanging from the eating habits of our prehistoric ancestors to food-related policy issues we face today, this work covers the full spectrum of foods that have been hunted, gathered, cultivated, and domesticated; their nutritional makeup and uses; and their impact on cultures and demography. It offers a geographical perspective on the history and culture of food and drink and takes up subjects from food fads, prejudices, and taboos to questions of food toxins, additives, labeling, and entitlements. It culminates in a dictionary that identifies and sketches out brief histories of plant foods mentioned in the text and additionally supplies thousands of common names and synonyms for those foods.
- Encyclopedia of American Food and DrinkFirst published in 1983, John Mariani's Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink has long been the go-to book on all things culinary. In addition to updates on food trends and other changes to American gastronomy since 1999, for the first time the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink will include biographical entries, both historical and contemporary, from Fanny Farmer and Julia Child, to the Galloping Gourmet and James Beard, to current high-profile players Mario Batali and Danny Meyer, among more than one hundred others.
- Encyclopedia of Food and CultureA three-volume survey of food and its place in human culture and society, presented through 600 alphabetically sorted entries. Features multidisciplinary coverage of such topics as comfort food, ethnicity and food, medieval banquets, and nutrient composition, among many others. Includes photographs, illustrations, sidebars, recipes, menus, and timelines. For students and general readers.
- Food History AlmanacThe Food History Almanac, covering 365 days of the year, is chock full of information and anecdotes relating to food history from around the world from medieval times to the present.
- The Gale Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Food LabelsGale Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Food Labels explains the often confusing (and sometimes contradictory) language and measurements on food labels and in food marketing, and provides information in a more reader-friendly way than an FDA report can.
- The Oxford Companion to FoodThousands of entries provide coverage on every possible food, its history, cultural significance, and culinary usage.
- The Oxford Companion to Sugar and SweetsMost comprehensive reference work on the idea of the sweet ever published, with entries on all aspects of sweetness, including chemical, technical, social, cultural, and linguistic.
