The Oxford Handbook of Food History (Oxford Handbooks)

## Abstract This book chronicles the history of food. It starts with the Columbian Exchange, a term coined in 1972 by the historian Alfred Crosby to refer to the flow of plants, animals and microbes across the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. It then explores the spice trade during the medieval period, the social biography and politics of food, and how food history is connected with race and ethnicity in the United States. The book also focuses on cookbooks as an important primary source for historians; contemporary food ethics, ethical food consumerism, and “ethical food consumption”; the link between food and social movements; the emerging critical nutrition studies; the relationship between food and gender and how gender can enlighten the study of food activism; the relationship between food and religion; the debates over food as they have developed within geography in both the English- and French-speaking worlds; food history as part of public history; culinary tourism; national cuisines; food regimes analysis; how the Annales School in France has shaped the field of food history; the role of food in anthropology; a global history of fast food, focusing on the McDonald's story; industrial foods; and the merits of food studies and its lessons for sociology. In addition, the book assesses the impact of global food corporations' domination in the contemporary era, which in many ways can be seen as the equivalent of the European and American empire of the past. Food matters, not only as a subject of study in its own right, but also as a medium for conveying critical messages about capitalism, the environment, and social inequality to diverse audiences. Recent scholarship on the subject draws from both a pathbreaking body of secondary literature and an inexhaustible wealth of primary sources--from ancient Chinese philosophical tracts to McDonald's menus--contributing new perspectives to the historical study of food, culture, and society, and challenging the limits of history itself. The Oxford Handbook of Food History places existing works in historiographical context, crossing disciplinary, chronological, and geographic boundaries while also suggesting new routes for future research. The twenty-seven essays in this book are organized into five sections: historiography, disciplinary approaches, production, circulation, and consumption of food. The first two sections examine the foundations of food history, not only in relation to key developments in the discipline of history itself--such as the French Annales school and the cultural turn--but also in anthropology, sociology, geography, pedagogy, and the emerging Critical Nutrition Studies. The following three sections sketch various trajectories of food as it travels from farm to table, factory to eatery, nature to society. Each section balances material, cultural, and intellectual concerns, whether juxtaposing questions of agriculture and the environment with the notion of cookbooks as historical documents; early human migrations with modern culinary tourism; or religious customs with social activism. In its vast, interdisciplinary scope, this handbook brings students and scholars an authoritative guide to a field with fresh insights into one of the most fundamental human concerns. This book chronicles the history of food. It starts with the Columbian Exchange, a term coined in 1972 by the historian Alfred Crosby to refer to the flow of plants, animals and microbes across the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. It then explores the spice trade during the medieval period, the social biography and politics of food, and how food history is connected with race and ethnicity in the United States. The book also focuses on cookbooks as an important primary source for historians; contemporary food ethics, ethical food consumerism, and "ethical food consumption"; the link between food and social movements; the emerging critical nutrition studies; the relationship between food and gender and how gender can enlighten the study of food activism; the relationship between food and religion; the debates over food as they have developed within geography in both the English- and French-speaking worlds; food history as part of public history; culinary tourism; national cuisines; food regimes analysis; how the Annales School in France has shaped the field of food history; the role of food in anthropology; a global history of fast food, focusing on the McDonald's story; industrial foods; and the merits of food studies and its lessons for sociology. In addition, the book assesses the impact of global food corporations' domination in the contemporary era, which in many ways can be seen as the equivalent of the European and American empire of the past. -- Publisher description "This book chronicles the history of food. It starts with the Columbian Exchange, a term coined in 1972 by the historian Alfred Crosby to refer to the flow of plants, animals and microbes across the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. It then explores the spice trade during the medieval period, the social biography and politics of food, and how food history is connected with race and ethnicity in the United States. The book also focuses on cookbooks as an important primary source for historians; contemporary food ethics, ethical food consumerism, and "ethical food consumption"; the link between food and social movements; the emerging critical nutrition studies; the relationship between food and gender and how gender can enlighten the study of food activism; the relationship between food and religion; the debates over food as they have developed within geography in both the English- and French-speaking worlds; food history as part of public history; culinary tourism; national cuisines; food regimes analysis; how the Annales School in France has shaped the field of food history; the role of food in anthropology; a global history of fast food, focusing on the McDonald's story; industrial foods; and the merits of food studies and its lessons for sociology. In addition, the book assesses the impact of global food corporations' domination in the contemporary era, which in many ways can be seen as the equivalent of the European and American empire of the past"-- Publisher's website Acknowledgments Contributors Introduction Food Histories Food and the Annales School Sydney Watts Political Histories of Food Enrique C. Ochoa Cultural Histories of Food Jeffrey M. Pilcher Labor Histories of Food Tracey Deutsch Public Histories of Food Rayna Green Food Studies Gendering Food Carole Counihan Anthropology of Food Kenji R. Tierney and Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney Sociology of Food Sierra Clark Burnett and Krishnendu Ray Geography of Food Bertie Mandelblatt Critical Nutrition Studies Charlotte Biltekoff Teaching with Food Jonathan Deutsch and Jeffrey Miller The Means of Production Agricultural Production and Environmental History Sterling Evans Cookbooks as Historical Documents Ken Albala Food and Empire Jayeeta Sharma Industrial Food Gabriella M. Petrick Fast Food Steve Penfold The Circulation of Food Food, Mobility, and World History Donna R. Gabaccia The Medieval Spice Trade Paul Freedman The Columbian Exchange Rebecca Earle Food, Time, and History Elias Mandala Food Regimes André Magnan Culinary Tourism Lucy M. Long Communities of Consumption Food and Religion Corrie E. Norman Food, Race, and Ethnicity Yong Chen National Cuisines Alison K. Smith Food and Ethical Consumption Rachel A. Ankeny Food and Social Movements Warren Belasco End Matter Index "Food matters, not only as a subject of study in its own right, but also as a medium for conveying critical messages about capitalism, the environment, and social inequality to diverse audiences. Recent scholarship on the subject draws from both a pathbreaking body of secondary literature and an inexhaustible wealth of primary sources--from ancient Chinese philosophical tracts to McDonald's menus--contributing new perspectives to the historical study of food, culture and society, and challenging the limits of history itself. [This book] places existing works in historiographical context, crossing disciplinary, chronological, and geographic boundaries while also suggesting new routes for future research"--Jacket, page [2] This handbook places existing works of food history in historiographical context, crossing disciplinary, chronological and geographic boundaries, while also suggesting new routes for future research. The 27 essays in this book are organised into 5 basic sections: historiography and disciplinary approaches as well as the production, circulation, and consumption of food