ANTH 324 Online Resources – Anthropology

Here are some online resources that may inspire and/or aid you in your research and general exploration of food and culture.

Baum, Charles, Barbara McMahon, and Eugen Beer. 2019. Love Menu Art (formerly, Cool Culinaria: Vintage Menu Art). https://lovemenuart.com/, accessed January 2, 2019.
Cool Culinaria was established in the summer of 2012 with “the aim of bringing the vintage art of dining out back to life.” The collection of menus is from all over the world, dating from the late 19th century through the 1970s. A number of personal collections are featured, such as, Harley Spiller’s Chinese menus.

BCFH. 2020. BC Food History Network. http://www.bcfoodhistory.ca/, accessed September 1, 2020.
Three home economists began this website with the intention to “research the history of food production and consumption in BC, Canada, and wherever else [to] find connections to food and history.”

Boston University Libraries. 2018. Gastronomy – Research Guide.
http://library.bu.edu/gastronomy, accessed January 3, 2019.
Includes a wide range of subject topics, from literary aspects to heritage tourism, databases, bibliographies, journal and magazine titles, menu and cookbook collections, food-related museums and exhibits, and even a few blogs! Take a look under the library’s larger heading of Gastronomy; it has 51 guides.

California Academy of Sciences, Department of Anthropology. n.d. The History of Eating Utensils. http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/utensil/, accessed July 7, 2014.
This is one of several of Anthropology’s online exhibits. Also of possible interest are: In the Victorian Kitchen, and The Rietz Collection of Food Technology.

Michigan State University Libraries. n.d. DMC Digital Collections.
https://lib.msu.edu/branches/dmc/digital/#bdc, accessed January 3, 2019.
Included are: Cookbooks, Feeding America Project, and Little Cookbooks: The Alan and Shirley Brocker Sliker Culinary Collection.

New York Public Library. 2019. Research Guides: Culinary History.
https://www.nypl.org/node/5629, accessed January 3, 2019.
Includes a wide range of resources, from basic subject topics, bibliographies (historical texts, menus and recipes) to selected internet sites. The NYPL also has a historical menu collection database, The Buttolph Collection of Menus. Also, look at “What’s on the menu?”

Royal BC Museum. 2020. Food History Project. https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/about/explore/centre-arrivals/food-history-project, accessed September 1, 2020.
The site illustrates some of the material culture associated with food in the RBCM collection. A selection of images are accompanied by brief descriptions.

StartSpot Mediaworks Inc. 1997-2016. GourmetSpot.
http://www.gourmetspot.com/, accessed January 3, 2019.
Provides links to recipes organized under general, ethnic, healthy, kosher, vegetarian, restaurant, and gluten-free. Also, under Media is a guide to television programs on cooking, and a list of culinary magazines. Weekly food columns in national newspapers are also identified with links.

University of Alberta Libraries. 2014. Culinaria: A Taste of Food History on the Prairies. http://omeka.library.ualberta.ca/exhibits/show/culinaria/intro, accessed July 11, 2014.
A virtual exhibit, it “features items that were written or published on the Prairies, as well as others that found widespread use or were influenced by Prairie foodstuffs.” It includes cookbooks and menus divided into four main sections: Cultural Groups & the Opening of the West; War, Politics, & Social Engagement; Business & Branding; and Health & Education.

So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.
–Franz Kafka, novelist (1883-1924)

Created 2002-08-22; last updated 2020-09-01