Food & Culture: Scholarship on Food

We've got pointers for you here! Food and culture intersect in many different ways, so look through some of the possible searches, take a gander at some books (and subject headings), and then try playing around on your own.

Looking for more specific search strategies? Check out pages like Food in Visual Culture, Food in Literature, and Food & Society.

Not quite sure how to get started in your scholarly searching? Check out a few of these search strings, look at some of the subject headings in the box below, and then try mixing and matching to suit your interests!

Need help? We're here.

• "Columbian exchange" and food in Central Index and Academic Search Complete
• (food or cuisine or dining) and ("cultural appropriation" or imperialism) in Academic Search Complete
• (food or cuisine or cooking or gastronomy) and (wom*n or gender) in Academic Search Complete and Central Index
• (recipe or food) AND blog in Central Index and Academic Search Complete

These are subject headings; many work in both our databases and our library catalog. Just copy them, paste them into the database of your choice, and get started searching!

Not quite sure how to go about it? You can search these phrases as either keywords or subjects. 

• "Alcohol -- Social aspects"
• "Beer -- Social aspects"
• "Cookbooks as topic" 
• "COOKING / Regional & Ethnic"
• "Food habits in literature"
• "Food habits -- Social aspects"
• "Food -- Religious aspects"
• "Food supply -- History"
• "Formulas, recipes, etc"
• "Modernist cuisine" 

There are a lot of books out there about food, culture, and more. These are just a few of the materials available on our shelves right now.

• Halal Food: A History by Febe Armanios & Boğaç Ergene
• Beer and Racism: How Beer Became White, Why It Matters, and the Movements to Change It by Nathaniel G. Chapman & David Brunsma 
• Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People by Linda Civitello
• Food in Time and Place: The American Historical Association Companion to Food History edited by Paul H. Freedman, Joyce E. Chaplin, & Ken Albala
• How Food Made History by B.W. Higman
• The Taco Truck: How Mexican Street Food is Transforming the American City by Robert Lemon
• Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food by Jeffrey Pilcher

Curious about more general ways to find books about food and culture? Try some of these searches, linked directly to our book catalog. 

• cookery
• food history
• food supply

Other libraries have put together incredible research guides for food and culture. Check a few of them out for more suggestions and pointers!

• Community Cookbooks guide from the Library of Congress
• Cookbooks and Home Economics from the Library of Congress's American Women resource guide
• Food & Drink History Resources from Virginia Tech
• Food in World History from the Marshall University Libraries
• Not By Bread Alone from Cornell University