A Selective List of Works on the History of Food, Beverages, and Cookery

NB: Cookbooks are generally omitted from this list since they are so easily located in the Library's catalogs.

General Works
The Classical World
The West
The East
The Americas and the United States
Beverages
Specific Foods and Beverages

General Works

Derenne, Jean-Philippe. L'amateur de cuisine.([Paris]: Stock, c1996.) JFE 97-326. An exhaustive and highly original compendium of information on food, history, recipes, and much else.

Feret, Barbara L. Gastronomical and culinary literature: a survey and analysis of historically oriented collections in the U.S.A. (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1978). JFD 95-8176. An out of date but still very useful source.

Histoire de l'alimentation, sous la direction de Jean-Louis Flandrin et Massimo Montanari. (Paris: Fayard, c1996). JFF 98-87. A large and somewhat uneven collection of essays on the social history of eating, from "préhistoire" to "macdonaldisation".

McGee, Harold. On food and cooking: the science and lore of the kitchen. (New York: Scribner's, c1984). *R-VTC 93-5054. Arranged topically, on Foods, Food and the Body, and the Principles of Cooking; extensive bibliography.

McGee, Harold. The Curious cook. (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1990). JFE 90-8208. A companion volume to the above.

Tannahill, Reay. Food in history. (New York: Crown, c1988). JFE 91-7568. A concise and reliable source.

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. Histoire naturelle & morale de la nourriture. English. A History of food. (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Reference, 1992). *R-VT 93-1641. A somewhat eccentric and French-oriented but thorough and entertaining history.

Visser, Margaret. Much depends on dinner. (Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, c1986). JFE 96-1586. An examination of the anthropology of dinner and of some of its individual components.

Visser, Margaret. The Rituals of dinner. (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991). *R-SBD 91-7515. A companion volume on manners.

The Classical World

Dalby, Andrew. Siren feasts: a history of food and gastronomy in Greece. (London and New York: Routledge, 1996). JFE 96-4795. An exhaustive and scholarly account.

Food in antiquity. Edited by John Wilkins, David Harvey & Mike Dobson; foreword by Alan Davidson. (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1995.) JFF 95-18578.

The West

Henisch, Bridget Ann. Fast and feast: food in medieval society. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, c1976). *R-VT 93-5052. A social and anthropological history based mainly on English sources from the 13th to the 15th century.

Mennell, Stephen. All manners of food: eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present. (Oxford and New York: Blackwell, 1985). *R-VT 93-5053. 2nd ed. (Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1996). JFE 96-2651.

Paston-Williams, Sara. The Art of dining: a history of cooking & eating. (London: National Trust, 1993). *R-VT 94-47. With the emphasis on Britain.

Scully, Terence. The Art of cookery in the Middle Ages. (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 1995). On order. History, with some recipes.

Wheaton, Barbara Ketcham. Savoring the past: the French kitchen and table from 1300 to 1789. (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press, 1983). *R-VT 93-5056. An authoritative history of French cooking and its social context; brief sample of historical recipes; extensive bibliography.

Wilson, C. Anne. Food and drink in Britain from the Stone Age to the 19th century. (Chicago: Chicago Academy Publishers, c1973). JFD 92-7436. Serious social history, with copious notes and a bibliography.

The East

Achaya, K. T. Indian food: a historical companion. (Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994). JFF 95-1137 or *OHO 94-3953 (Oriental Division). A history of the subcontinent's foods and food practices, from prehistory to the Raj.

Anderson, Eugene N. The Food of China. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988). JFE 92-7112. A history and ethnography of Chinese food, agriculture and cookery, from the Bronze Age to the twentieth century.

Bottero, Jean. Textes culinaires mesopotamiens = Mesopotamian culinary texts. (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995). *OCP 95-7460. Translation of the Akkadian texts into French, with an introductory chapter in English.

Darby, William J., Paul Ghalioungui, and Louis Grivetti. Food, the gift of Osiris. (London and New York: Academic Press, 1977). *OBK 79-4214 (Oriental Division). A two-volume history of food in Egypt.

Simoons, Frederick J. Food in China: a cultural and historical inquiry. (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, c1991). JFF 91-1821.

The Americas and the United States

Coe, Sophie D. America's first cuisines. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994). HBC 94-5051. The cuisines of the original inhabitants of the New World, the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations.

Cummings, Richard Osborn. The American and his food. (New York: Arno Press, 1970 [c1941]). JFD 96-5698; *Z-7156 no. 2. A classic work of social history.

Egerton, John. Southern food: at home, on the road, in history. (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, c1987). JFE 94-10734. (New York: Knopf, 1993). JFE 93-10337.

Hess, John L. and Karen. The Taste of America, "third" ed. ([Columbia, S.C.] University of S. C. Press, c1989). JFE 92-4656. A detailed, impassioned history of American food habits and how they have been shaped; annotated bibliography. First published 1977 (JFD 95-265).

Hooker, Richard J. Food and drink in America: a history. (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, [1981]). JLE 81-1530. Extensive factual material and copious notes; no bibliography.

Levenstein, Harvey A. Paradox of plenty: a social history of eating in modern America. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). JFE 93-1900.

Levenstein, Harvey A. Revolution at the table: the transformation of the American diet. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988). JFE 96-1593. A scholarly, thoroughly researched, and entertaining account.

Mendelson, Anne. Stand facing the stove: the story of the women who gave America the Joy of Cooking.New York: Henry Holt, 1996.) JFE 96-19572. A biography of two remarkable women, with much information on the history of American home cooking and cookbook publishing in the 20th century.

Niethammer, Carolyn. American Indian food and lore. (New York: Macmillan, [1974]). HBC 75-407.

Plante, Ellen M. The American kitchen, 1700 to the present: from hearth to highrise.(New York: Facts on File, c1995.) JFE 97-7144.

Recipes for reading: community cookbooks, stories, histories, edited by Anne L. Bower. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1997.) JFE 98-406. A collection of essays in which "scholars in history, English studies, linguistics, performance studies, foreign languages, and culinary history" apply "reader-response, deconstructivist, feminist, and historicist theoretical approaches" to the study of community cookbooks.

Root, Waverley, and Richard de Rochemont. Eating in America: a history.(New York: Morrow, 1976). JFF 96-6078. An informal but comprehensive source.

Shapiro, Laura. Perfection salad: women and cooking at the turn of the century. (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, c1986). JFD 94-11793. A witty and instructive history of the scientific cookery movement and its leading lights.

Williams, Susan. Savory suppers and fashionable feasts: dining in Victorian America. (New York: Pantheon Books in association with the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum, 1985.) JFE 94-8196. Second edition forthcoming.

Beverages

Baron, Stanley. Brewed in America: a history of beer and ale in the United States. (Boston, Little, Brown, [1962]). JFE 95-514. A solid reference, the only one of its kind.

Downard, William L. Dictionary of the history of the American brewing and distilling industries. (Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 1980). JLE 81-2310 (Science, Industry, and Business Library). With a selected bibliography.

Hyams, Edward S. Dionysus: a social history of the wine vine. (New York: Macmillan, [1965]). E-12 5715.

Johnson, Hugh. Vintage: the story of wine. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989). *R-VTS 91-8635.

One hundred years of brewing: a complete history of the progress made in the art, science and industry of brewing in the world, particularly during the nineteenth century. Historical sketches and views of ancient and modern breweries. Lives and portraits of brewers of the past and present. (Chicago and New York: H.S. Rich & Co., 1903). *ZV-152 (microfilm; Science, Industry and Business Library). An excellent source, microfilm notwithstanding.

Pinney, Thomas. A History of wine in America from the beginnings to Prohibition. (Berkeley, University of California Press, c1989). JFF 96-3291. Comprehensive, with an extensive bibliography.

Specific Foods and Beverages

Coe, Sophie D. and Michael. The True history of chocolate. (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996.) JFE 96-15853.

Fussell, Betty. The Story of corn. (New York: Knopf, 1992). JFF 95-2779. The mythology, history, growing and preparation of corn; classified bibliography.

Mintz, Sidney. Sweetness and power: the place of sugar in modern history. (New York: Viking, 1985). JLE 85-2421.

Salaman, Redcliffe. The History and social influence of the potato. (Cambridge, Eng., Cambridge University Press, 1949). JFD 97-15275.

Smith, Andrew F. The Tomato in America: early history, culture, and cookery. (Columbia, S.C., University of South Carolina Press, c1994). JFE 95-6856.

Ukers, William Harrison. All about coffee. (New York: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal Col, 1935). JFF 98-349.

Ukers, William Harrison. All about tea. (New York: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal Co., 1935). JFF 96-3290. 2 vol.