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Search Terms to Get Started
If you're not sure how to get started with your search, try exploring the library catalog with some of the terms listed below. Once you've found a few promising books, look in the "subjects" section of the record for additional terms that might be useful for your search! You can also try adding a specific country, region, or ethnic group at the end of these search terms.
- Food Habits
- Food Culture
- Food – Political Aspects
- Food – Social Aspects
- Nutrition – Social Aspects
- Drinking Customs
The library has many books on this topic! Below are a few options to get you started!
Food Customs & Rituals
Eating Together by Call Number: ebookISBN: 0252094883Publication Date: 2013This book highlights the ways in which Americans eat together and how it plays a central role in social life in the United States. The author shows how social inequalities involving race, economics, and gender reveal themselves through eating together.
Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia by Call Number: Carothers Library Reference - Non Circulating GT2850 .F666 2011ISBN: 9780313376269Publication Date: 2011This 4-volume encyclopedia covers all of the world's nation-states, as well as various tribes and marginalized peoples. Each entry offers information about foodstuffs, meals, cooking methods, recipes, eating out, holidays and celebrations, and health and diet.
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Food and Popular Culture by Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks GT2850 .B58 2018ISBN: 9781474296243Publication Date: 2017This text covers key theories and existing areas of research about food and popular culture while providing historical context and considering possible future developments. It covers topics such as media and communication, material cultures of eating, aesthetics of food and socio-political considerations.
The World Religions Cookbook by Call Number: Carothers Library Reference - Non Circulating TX725 A1 S42155 2007ISBN: 9780313335044Publication Date: 2007This book covers the food practices of followers of the world's major religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Shintoism. There are nearly 300 recipes that give the reader insight of what is often eaten for sacred occasions and why.
How America Eats by Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks GT2853.U5 W35 2013ISBN: 9781442208742Publication Date: 2012This text is a study of America’s diverse culinary history and a look at the country’s unique and unprecedented journey to the present day. It covers the conflicting ways in which Americans have chosen to define themselves, their culture, their beliefs, and the changes those definitions have undergone over time.
Every Nation Has Its Dish: Black Bodies and Black Food in Twentieth-Century America by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9798890856654Publication Date: 2018This book discusses the process of choosing what and how to eat and how this plays a crucial role in the project of finding one's place as an individual, as an African American, and as a citizen. The text utilizes the experiences and diverse convictions of several generations of African American activists, such as Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary Church Terrell, Elijah Muhammad, and Dick Gregory.
Taste of the Nation by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9780252040252Publication Date: 2016This book forms a cultural and sensory history of New Deal-era eating from the Federal Writers' Project (FWP archives). It explores how likes and dislikes, cravings and disgust operated within local sensory economies and how nostalgia, prescriptive gender ideals, and racial stereotypes shaped how the FWP was able to frame regional food cultures as "American."
Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9781620401606Publication Date: 2014This encyclopedia provides updates on food trends and other changes to American gastronomy since 1999, and includes biographical entries, both historical and contemporary. It also includes over 500 classic recipes.
Ethnic American Food Today by Call Number: ebookISBN: 1442227311Publication Date: 2015This book presents the background and history of individual food cultures along with explorations of the place of that food in mainstream American society today. The entries look at foodways, the beliefs and aesthetics surrounding that food, and the changes that have occurred over time and place. Recipes are also included.
Itadakimasu! The Food Culture of Japan: いただきます by Call Number: ebookISBN: 0367903571Publication Date: 2021This text explores themes such as regional specialties, annual festivals, traditional foodways, prominent tea masters, and more. It also addresses current events in the food industry, health and nutrition, dieting trends, fast food, and international and Western influences.
Food Culture in the Caribbean by Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks TX716 A1 H67 2005ISBN: 0313327645Publication Date: 2005Through this text readers will get an inside look into the diverse island societies and ethnicities through their food cultures. Some topics include the discussion of the Caribbean concept of making do, the unique fruits and starches, the one-pot meal, the technique of jerking meat, and the preference for cooking outdoors.
Food Culture in Germany by Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks TX721 H453 2008ISBN: 9780313344947Publication Date: 2008This text is a thorough and up-to-date understanding of Germans and their food. Topics include the history, foodstuffs, cooking, special occasions, lifestyle eating habits, and diet and health.
Food Culture in India by Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks TX724.5 I4 S38 2004ISBN: 0313324875Publication Date: 2004This text offers the reader cultural information along with country studies and food studies. Some topics covered are the restrictions of various religions and castes and the northern wheat-based vs. the southern rice-based cuisine, with an extensive review of each regional cuisine with typical meals.
