Your First Stop on the Internet for
"Serious Books for Serious Cooks"
Food and Culinary History Links
[Libraries] [Newsletters] [Culinary History Groups] [Other] [Home]
[Courses/Event/Conferences/Lectures] [Book Searches]
If you know of any really interesting culinary history sites out there, please send an e-mail message to the Food Heritage Press This page was last updated on June 1, 2005.
We encourage food and culinary sites to link to the Food Heritage Press, America's first stop on the internet for "Serious Books for Serious Cooks."
Feeding America -- Full-text reproductions of 76 historic American cookbooks are available on a website created by the Michigan State University Libraries. "Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project' was a two-year digitisation project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The 76 cookbooks featured on the site include some of the most significant works in American culinary history, including a 1798 printing of Amelia Simmons' American Cookery.
American Culinary History Center -- A large and tasty slice of Americana has found a home in the Longone Center for American Culinary Research at the University of Michigan's William Clements Library.
Culinary Holdings of the New York Public Library
The collection on gastronomy and the history of foods is unusually extensive, and the cookbook collection alone numbers well over 16,000 volumes.
Culinary Holdings of the Schlesinger Library
The Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College include nearly 12,000 works in the fields of cookery, gastronomy, domestic management, the history of cooking, and related reference works.
Campbell Library of the Academy of Food Marketing
This library specializes in works on the food industry. The collection consists of over 4,000 books and 275 serial publications.
 |
The Culinary Archives & Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island is the premier museum devoted to the preservation of the history of the culinary and hospitality industries. Internationally renowned, this collection of over half-a-million items represents five millenniums of history, often referred to as "The Smithsonian Institution of the Food Service Industry." |
Szathmary Collection at the University of Iowa Libraries
The University of Iowa Libraries have in their collection more than 20,000 items owned by Chef Louis Szathmary, including books, pamphlets and manuscripts.
 |
The Culinary Institute of America's Conrad N. Hilton Library houses an outstanding collection of specialized literature in the culinary field. The library has 300 current periodical titles and more than 52,000 volumes on cooking, baking, food and beverage management, business, history, psychology, communications, computers, and languages. They also maintain a special collection of menus, rare books, and videotapes. |
 |
Indiana University Bloomington Libraries
- The Lilly Library The Lilly Library's acquisition of Mrs. John T. Gernon's collection of American cookbooks forms the core of the library's collections pertaining to food and drink. |
Food History News is edited and published by Sandra L. Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro, ME 04848. If you have any interest in the history of food then Food History News is a must. Please visit their website at www.foodhistorynews.com to learn more about Sandy and her newsletter.
The COOKBOOK COLLECTORS' EXCHANGE is a growing phenomenon...48 pages, published bimonthly, this publication is a medium for the exchange of cookbooks and information and related experiences volunteered by collectors and enjoyed by a large audience. To order the latest issue of The Cookbook Collectors' Exchange, send $2.00 to: CCE, P.O. Box 32369, San Jose, CA 95152-2369.
Flavor and Fortune. Subscribe to the only Chinese food magazine published in the US. Ken Hom is the honorary Chairperson of the Institute that sponsors it. The cost is $19.50 per year for this award-winning quarterly that reports about Chinese food culture, history, cookbooks, restaurants, equipment, recipes, and more. Send checks made out to ISACC (Chinese Institute). and mail to P. O. Box 91, Kings Park, NY 11754 For more information contack Jackie Newman at jloveschfd@aol.com
I wish I had the skills and time to find the perfect cookbook you are looking for but others can do it faster and cheaper than I can. I recommend the following people who can find the book for you. Send them your request by e-mail.
Margaret Savilonis, Bee & Thistle Books, 11 Gay Road, Brookfield, MA 01506 USA Meg is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and the Culinary Historians of Boston. She carries a large inventory of cookbooks and publishes a catalog. Tele/FAX: 508-867-6748. Her e-mail address is: bandtbks@meganet.net
Bonnie Slotnick, with 13 years' experience as a "tracer of lost cookbooks," specializes in searches for out-of-print food literature. A search may take years, but Bonnie sees every search through to completion. Her Greenwich Village shop (Box G27, 332 Bleecker St., NY, NY 10014 USA), called "Bonnie Slotnick: Cookbooks," stocks more than 2,000 titles. The shop is open by appointment (and most weekend afternoons). 212-989-8962; FAX: 212-989-8102 or by e-mail: bonnie_slotnick@rebus.com
COOKBOOK-L. is an email discussion list for cookbook collectors and everyone who would like to make them supremely happy. The purpose of COOKBOOK-L is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information about cookbooks and related subjects. WWW.COOKBOOK-L.COM (http://www.cookbook-l.bigstep.com/) is in its developmental infancy. Phase one pages are up, others will follow. Material here will be constantly changing. Visit often to gain full benefit from the site.. |
 |
 |
If you are interested in nutrition then I want to introduce you to my friend and colleague Dr. Irene. From her page you can subscribe to Dr.Irene's Nutrition Tidbits at no charge, submit nutrition questions and suggestions for consideration in the newsletter and look up nutrition tidbits using the "File Cabinet. IRENE BERMAN-LEVINE, Ph.D., R.D. Dr. Irene Berman-Levine is a Nutrition Consultant at Nutrition Program Planning in Harrisburg, PA. She is also a Clinical Assistant Professor in Nutrition at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She loves to teach and has also taught at Boston University, Simmons College, Penn State, University of Maryland and Messiah College. She is a frequent speaker at professional meetings and serves on the board of the South Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. http://www.healthandage.com/drirene |
 |
The NY Food Museum began activities in the fall of 1998, when the Wolfe Institute hosted a panel on "The Food Voice and the NY Food Museum" at Brooklyn College. Upcoming plans for 2000 include a book and exhibit on school lunches ("School Lunch and the Federal School Lunch Program") and the first annual Pickle Day. First steps have been taken to create an exhibit on the fine and folk art of cake decorating, an online exhibit on future food resources and a program on minorities in the food industry. |
 |
The FOOD Museum examines what in the world we eat and how we eat it, where it came from, how it has evolved, what its impact is on culture, what its future may be. The FOOD Museum is a natural evolutionof The Potato Museum, begun in 1975 to study the history and cultural significance of e world's most influential vegetable. The Potato Museum is a pioneer in the interdisciplinary examination of a single food source. |
 |
If you live in Canada tune in to Foodessence. It's definitely not a cooking show, yet it's all about food. Foodessence is a fast-paced, in-depth and investigative series featuring entertaining insights into the history and culture oof the foods we eat. Go to their web site www.lifenetwork.ca for a list of current programs. |
 |
If you collect cookbooks, foodbooks or just love books than treat yourself to BIBLIO magazine. You can also check out their web site at http://www.bibliomag.com . At their web site they also have a link to cookbook stores and collectors. Check it out. |
 |
If you read spanish please visit Teresa de Castro's site in Granada, Spain. She is a young Spanish ethnohistorian. She has a web site about food in history including information about her publications on medieval castilian and andalusian food. |
The University of Minnesota - Crookston. Dr. Traci Kelly teaches "A Book, A Dinner, A Movie: A Course About the Power and Artistry of the Kitchen." Come spend some quality time at this quality site.
Greg Lindahl's Food Page This is a Society for Creative Anachronism resource, and contains a variety of different sorts of information.
The Gopher
Hole: Talking Food. This site in the UK is trying to collect in one place all
the newsgroups, mailing lists, chat rooms, and newsletters etc., which could be of
interest to people involved with the science and technology of food, its manufacture, and
its consumption.
Cookbook Reviews Patsy Terrell, Promotion Director at Radio Kansas writes cookbook reviews for "The Hutchinson News," "Kansas Country Living" and "The Sun."
Cindy Renfrow's Culinary Links Great food and culinary history links including brewing and gleanings from Gerard's Herbal.
Culinary historians visiting Massachusetts should plan to visit Old Sturbridge Village and Plimoth Plantation. OSV has a full year-round calendar of activities for the whole family. To learn more see www.osv.org, or write them at 1 OSV Rd., Sturbridge, MA 01566. The phone number is 1-800-SEE-1830. Plimoth Plantation offers classes in hands-on 17th century style cookery which you can also see daily on the museum grounds. Their Hobomock's Homesite shows Native American life at the time of the English settlement. Write PP at PO Box 1620, Plymouth, MA 02362. Or call 508-746-1622. Website is www.plimoth.org
The Internet Culinary CyberCity -- the first place to look for food & drink on the web. Or, click on the graphic link below.
AUSTRALIA & CANADA
The Department of History at The University of Adelaide has established a Research Center for the History of Food and Drink. The Research Centre's activities embrace the history of food and drink in both an Australian and a global context. The center is interested in the various stages in the history of food and drink from their production to consumption, in their relationship to national and international politics, society, and economy, and in their environmental and medical effects and cultural meanings. Contact their website at www.arts.adelaide.edu.au/centrefooddrink/
In Canada there is the Culinary Historians of Ontario, an information network for foodways research. For information contact Christine Ritsma, 207 Albert St., Stratford, Ontario, Canada N5A 3K7 Ph: 519-272-1949 This group produces an informative newsletter and interesting quarterly programs. Annual subscription to their newsletter is $12 (Cdn.) For additional information please contact them at their web site: www.culinaryhistorians.ca
UNITED STATES
Over the past couple yours a number of culinary history groups have developed across the country. The oldest is the Culinary Historians of Boston which has been meeting monthly for the past 20 years. Meeting monthly during the academic year at Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library, CHoB has featured such varied programs as Nina Simonds on the food and culture of China, David Conroy on "Boston Drink Sellers in the 18th Century" and Mark Kurlansky on his book "Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World." They publish an informal newsletter 6-times a year and hold an authentic period banquet each May. For more information send a letter to Joe Carlin, 15 Kimball Avenue, Ipswich, MA 01938-1206 or go to their web site at www.culinaryhistoriansboston.com
 |
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture has announced the formation of an affiliated institute, the Southern Foodways Alliance, whose mission is to celebrate, preserve, promote and nurture the traditional and developing diverse food culture of the American South. Visit their web site at: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/foodways/code/home.htm Or call 662-915-5993, e-mail: cssc@olemiss.edu |
At the end of 1996 the Culinary Historians of Washington, DC (CHow) was formed. For more information about this group go to their web site Culinary Historians of Washington, DC This group meets monthly September through May. CHoW has a newsletter called the CHow Line.
If you live in the Houston, Texas area then you look into the Houston Culinary Historians. For information about this very active group go to their web site at Houston Culinary Historians Regular membership is $25.00. If you can't make it to the meetings consider subscribing to the HCH Newsletter at $10.00 per year. The group meets at the Conrad Hilton Archives of the University of Houston, on the third Sunday of the month from September to May, and publishes a newletter three times a year.
The New Orleans Culinary History Group held their first meeting early in January, 1998 at the Seltzer-Gerard Reading Room at Tulane University. Each meeting begins with a presentation of manuscripts and books from the Vorhoff Library. For more information about this new group go to their web site at www.tulane.edu/~wclib/culinary.html
The Culinary Historians of Connecticut was recently formed. They meet monthly on the third Wednesday and sponsor weekend workshops.For more information contact Rob Stone, 59 Partidge Ct., Watertown, CT 06795, or call 860-274-6526.
Culinary Historians of New York. The Culinary Historians of New York was founded in 1985 in New York City. Most of there members reside in the city and its suburbs in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Monthly meetings are held from September through May. All are open to guests as well as members, and some are open to the general public. A quarterly newsletter features culinary updates, book reviews, member profiles, listing of upcoming culinary events, and other news of interest to members. www.culinaryhistoriansny.org
In the Philadelphia area there is the Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley. Membership is $10 and entitles one to meeting notification and newsletter. If you attend a program, there is usually an additional small charge. Contact Susan Plaisted, 50 Howley Dr., Morrisville, PA 19067.Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley
The Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW) meet on the 1st Wednesday of each month. Contact Joan Peterson (2018 Chamberlain Ave., Madison, WI 53705; Tel: 608-233-5488; joanp@ginkgopress.com); Louis Pitschmann (lpitschmann@library.wisc.edu), and Terese Allen (tallen@pop.globaldialog.com).
Culinary Historians of Southern California. Dan Strehr at the Los Angeles Public Library, which has a large culinary collection, is the organizing principal behind the only (so far) West Coast culinary historian group. Meetings are held at the Mark Taper Auditorium of the LAPL, 630 West Fifth St., Los Angeles. CHSC meets the second Saturday of the month, annual dues at $25. Contact Dan at L.A. Public Library, 630 West 5th St., Los Angles, CA 90071. Culinary Historians of Southern California, and page down, or try their list
The Culinary Historians of Chicago sponsors six meetings between September and June and an annual banquet and/or conference or seminar. Contact Susan Ridgeway, 2113 Sanborn Circle, Plainfield, IL, 60544. Phone 815-439-3960. Or contact them at www.culinaryhistorians.org
In Hawaii there is the Culinary Historians of Hawaii. Most of the meetings have a fairly academic tone, several members are affiliated with the University of Hawaii. Contact Nancy Lewis at 60 N. Beretania, Apt. 3010, Honolulu, HI 96817, 808-521-9709.
Courses, Lectures, Events and Conferences
A Dollop of History in Every Bite! an exhibition mounted in celebration of the awarding of the History Channel's Save Our History grant to The Historic New Orleans Collection and the 100th anniversary of Galatoire's restaurant, features an assortment of The Collection's culinary holdings. A Dollop of History in Every Bite! will be on view at the Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres St., from May 24 through December 3, 2005.
Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium, October 27-30, 2005 The 8th annual Southern Foodways Alliance symposium will take place on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford. This year, the SFA -- which clebrates, teaches, preserves, and promotes the diverse food cultures of the American South-- examines sugar and sweetness. For more information contact John T. Edge at johnt@olemiss.edu
Conference of the Society for the History of Technology will be held November 3-6, 2005 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. One of the themes of the conference is Food Technology or Technology and Food. The conference web site is at http://shot.press.jhu.edu/Annual_Meeting/Annual_Meeting_Main_Page.htm
Bruce Craig teaches two courses in food history at Roosevelt University. Check out Roosevelt's website: roosevelt.edu, or write them at 430 S Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60605 or send an e-mail to Bruce: bcraig@roosevelt.edu
Andy Smith teaches a course in food history at the New School. Their web site is www.newschool.edu, or write to them at 66 w 12th St., New York, NY 10011; phone number is 212-229-5600. For information about the on-line food history course, check out the Distance Instruction for Adult Learning (or DIAL) website: http://dewey.dialnsa.edu/sweb/dial.cgi
From time to time The Williamsburg Institute at Colonial Williamsburg sponsors conference on the topic of food. Their most recent conference was January 20-22, 2000 titled "The Art of 18th-Century Cooking: Farm to Hearth to Table." For additional information contact the Williamsburg Institute at 757-220-7182 or e-mail tengle@cwf.org Visit their website at http://www.history.org
From time to time The Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust holds conferences of interest to food historians. One meeting was The 2000 International Conference on the Mediterranean Diet, which was held in London January 13 - 16, 2000 at the Royal College of Physicians. For information on future meetings contact Oldways at 617-621-3000 or by e-mail: oldways@tiac.net Visit their website at http://www.oldwayspt.org also visit http://www.chefnet.com/cc2000
If you know of any really interesting culinary history sites out there, please send me an e-mail message at foodbks@shore.net
[Home] [Order Form] [Prospect Books] [British Imports][African-American] [ Southern Cooking] [Beer & Wine] [Ethnic Cookbooks] [Historic American Recipes] [Reference Books] [Regional USA Cookbooks] [New Titles] [Medieval Cookeryl] [Facsimiles and Reprints] [Out of Print and used Cookbooks]