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Sociology & History of Food

The Sociology of Food is the study of food and eating in human society. Research in this field may incorporate aspects of history, anthropology, nutrition or psychology, and aims to answer the question of what role food plays within our social environment

Primary Sources of Food & Food History

There are a wealth of freely available digital collections with primary sources of food and food history that can enrich your research! Use this page as a starting point to explore historical menus, cookbooks, and recipes that provide a window into culinary culture through the ages.

This page is only a sampling of what's out there though - many other libraries have compiled excellent directories on primary sources of food. A Google search for "food history resources" or "food history LibGuides" will turn up other promising leads to explore. 

Historical Menus

The collections below are all digitized and freely available (with no login required) and include historical menus (primarily from restaurants in the US). 

Historical Cookbooks & Recipes