HST430: Food History
Welcome to the library research page for HST430: Food History.
This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the field of food history. By exploring the ways in which specialists in a diverse range of fields have approached the history of food and eating, this course attempts to tease out some of the multiple ways in which food history offers a unique means of understanding the nature of historical change at a variety of different scales, from the global to the deeply individual and personal.
Explore this page for useful resources and tools that will help you navigate this course.
[left]: Canadian Cook Book by Nellie Lyle Pattinson was a best seller for the Ryerson Press and it was used for many years in home economics classes in Ontario.
Pattinson, Nellie Lyle. Canadian Cook Book. 19th Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1947.
Original source: Toronto Metropolitan University Library. Special Collections. See the case study "Canadian Cook Book" by Jennifer Ball in Imprinting Canada
Useful Resources
TMU Libraries subscribe to many databases ideal for historical analysis, which are accessible to the TMU Community.
Visit the Journals and Articles page for vital databases that contain information not available on Google or Omni.
The following databases may be of particular use for this course.
Some digital collections will include recipes and information on cooking and cookery. You can search using keywords such as recipes OR cooking OR cookery. You may want to search for specific ingredients such as "cottage cheese", or specific types of dishes such as: soup AND recipes.
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Maclean's Magazine Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowMaclean’s Magazine Digital Archive, offering content from 1905-2015, a Canadian news and general interest magazine, provides a unique perspective on both national and international affairs. Topics include investigative reporting, opinion and analysis on politics, economy and business, science and technology, society, arts and culture, education and work. It was initially known as then The Busy Man’s Magazine from 1896-1911, with a couple of 1905 issues published as The Business Magazine, and then changed to the current title, Maclean’s, in 1911.
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Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new windowAn archival research resource comprising the backfiles of leading women's interest consumer magazines. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005 and these key primary sources permit the examination of the events, trends, and attitudes of this period. Among the research fields served by this material are gender studies, social history, economics/marketing, media, fashion, politics, and popular culture.
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Archives of Sexuality and Gender (ASG) This link opens in a new windowThe Archives of Sexuality and Gender from Gale provides a significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers and scholars can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, social movements and activism, erotica, and many other interesting topical areas. This growing archival offers rich research opportunities across a wide span of human history.
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Defining Gender This link opens in a new windowThis exciting collection of original source material from British and European archives will enrich the teaching and research experience of those studying history, literature, sociology, education and cultural studies from a gendered perspective. Manuscripts, printed works and illustrations combine to address the key issues from both masculine and feminine perspectives.
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Canadiana This link opens in a new windowCanadiana is a bilingual digital library of primary (source) documents of early Canadian printed publications including books, annuals and periodicals. Over 1,300 sources (including 350 titles from outside the U.S.) are indexed and abstracted. Of these, 600 are available in full text.
Formerly known as Early Canadiana Online.
Some Free Online Resources
Many books and journals that were published up to 1924 CE are in the public domain (no longer protected by local copyright laws) and available digitally from major sources such as the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/), the Hathi Trust, and from individual libraries, museums and archives via their digital collections.
- Here is a sample search using the Internet Archive and keywords Canadian cook book
- Here is a sample search using the Hathi Trust digital library, with parameters Full-text, and, Full view only and the search terms Canadian cook book
- Many libraries have digitized selected cookbooks, including the Florida State University digital collection of Cookbooks and Herbals
Useful Searches
An effective search can reduce stress and frustration, and will ensure you are able to get started on your reading and writing sooner.
For this course, you might think about the following searches to get you started. For guidance on using Omni, TMU's extensive catalogue, check out our 'starting your search' page.
- Child, Julia
- Cookbooks
- Cooking History
- Cooking Canada History
- Cooking, Canadian
- Eating customs History
- Food Canada
- Food History
- Food habits
- Food industry and trade
- Recipes
Name of a person searched in Advanced Search, Subject contains: ...
Topical search using keywords in a Advanced Search, Subject contains:
Many governmental bodies, academic and public libraries, museums, and private organizations are creating digital collections. Often access is free of charge. You may find items including manuscripts and rare print resources including printed ephemera such as branded recipe booklets. You can search specific institutions or try using a reliable search engine.
By Institution:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Manuscripts (University of Toronto)
- On the first page of results, one item, "Arithmetic exercise and cookery recipe book" is described in the catalogue record as being the work of Elizabeth Binge, 1828-1838, created in Dersingham & Lynn Regis, England.
- On the second page of results, there is a "Cookbook of British recipes," "Cookery and medical receipt book," "Culinary and medicinal recipe book," and, "Culinary recipe book." There are additional medical and cooking recipes on following pages of results.
University of Toronto Scarborough
The New York Public Library digital collections
- A simple search for recipes returns a fabulous collection of recipes on cigarette cards as well as manuscript items, pamphlets and even a photograph.
Toronto Public Library Digital Collection
- A simple search for recipes returns printed ephemera and photographs.
By Internet
You may want to try to focus your search by including key words such as archives, manuscripts, or "primary sources"
For example, using Google, the terms canadian cooking archives return some interesting entries with information on archived exhibitions held by Library and Archives Canada, and information about the University of Guelph's large cookbook collection.
One item is as follows:
Recipes | Wartime Canada
Wartime Canada is a window into the Canadian experience during the First and Second World Wars. Take a step back in time. Explore the Archive Category: Eating to find recipes, menus and more.
Restaurant and Food Menus available on the Internet Archive
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Arab Cooking on a Prairie Homestead
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ISBN: 9780889775183Publication Date: 2017-09-30In the 1920s, Habeeb Salloum's parents left behind the orchards and vineyards of French-occupied Syria to seek a new life on the windswept, drought-stricken Canadian prairies. With recollections that show the grit and improvisation of early Syrian pioneers, Arab Cooking on a Prairie Homestead demonstrates Salloum's love of traditional Arab cuisine. By growing "exotic" crops brought from their country of origin--such as lentils, chickpeas, and bulgur--the Salloums survived the Dust Bowl conditions of the 1930s, and helped change the landscape of Canadian farming. Over 200 recipes--from dumplings and lentil pies to zucchini mint soup--in this updated classic will provide today's foodies and urban farmers with dishes that are not only delicious, but also climate-friendly and gentle on your wallet! -
Chow: From China to Canada: Memories of Food and Family byISBN: 155285650XPublication Date: 2005cookbook and a fascinating glimpse into Canadian history. Born a two-pound preemie in 1917, Dennis Wong may have begun his love of food after spending the first months of his life keeping warm in his mother`s cooking oven. Miraculously surviving his tenuous beginning, Dennis went on to pursue an ambitious culinary career, opening two Chinese-Canadian cafés in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to introduce countless adventurous Canadian diners to Chinese food. In Chow, Dennis`s daughter Janice Wong tells her father`s tale through heart-rending stories and traditional Chinese village recipes. A collection of more than 50 simple family fare dishes, Chow contains early photographs, immigration documents, 1940s restaurant menus, and handwritten recipes that trace the history of some of Canada`s first ethnic restaurants. Written with refreshing sincerity, Chow is both a terrific cookbook and a detailed record of an intriguing chapter in Canadian history. It includes recipes for: Dungeness Crab with Black Bean Sauce Steamed Chicken with Rice, Sausage and Mushrooms Asparagus, Mushrooms and Pork Chinese Barbecue Duck Peking Doilies Wong`s Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Culinary Landmarks
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ISBN: 9780802047908Publication Date: 2008-04-05Culinary Landmarksis a definitive history and bibliography of Canadian cookbooks from the beginning, when La cuisinière bourgeoise was published in Quebec City in 1825, to the mid-twentieth century. Over the course of more than ten years Elizabeth Driver researched every cookbook published within the borders of present-day Canada, whether a locally authored text or a Canadian edition of a foreign work. Every type of recipe collection is included, from trade publishers' bestsellers and advertising cookbooks, to home economics textbooks and fund-raisers from church women's groups. The entries for over 2,200 individual titles are arranged chronologically by their province or territory of publication, revealing cooking and dining customs in each part of the country over 125 years. Full bibliographical descriptions of first and subsequent editions are augmented by author biographies and corporate histories of the food producers and kitchen-equipment manufacturers, who often published the books. Driver's excellent general introduction sets out the evolution of the cookbook genre in Canada, while brief introductions for each province identify regional differences in developments and trends. Four indexes and a 'Chronology of Canadian Cookbook History' provide other points of access to the wealth of material in this impressive reference book. -
Curry
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ISBN: 9781552453513Publication Date: 2017-09-12No two curries are the same. This Curry asks why the dish is supposed to represent everything brown people eat, read, and do. Curry is a dish that doesn't quite exist, but, as this wildly funny and sharp essay points out, a dish that doesn't properly exist can have infinite, equally authentic variations. By grappling with novels, recipes, travelogues, pop culture, and his own upbringing, Naben Ruthnum depicts how the distinctive taste of curry has often become maladroit shorthand for brown identity. With the sardonic wit of Gita Mehta's Karma Cola and the refined, obsessive palette of Bill Buford's Heat, Ruthnum sinks his teeth into the story of how the beloved flavor calcified into an aesthetic genre that limits the imaginations of writers, readers, and eaters. Following in the footsteps of Salman Rushdie's Imaginary Homelands, Curry cracks open anew the staid narrative of an authentically Indian diasporic experience. -
Edible Histories, Cultural Politics
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ISBN: 9781442612839Publication Date: 2012-11-07Just as the Canada's rich past resists any singular narrative, there is no such thing as a singular Canadian food tradition. This new book explores Canada's diverse food cultures and the varied relationships that Canadians have had historically with food practices in the context of community, region, nation and beyond. Based on findings from menus, cookbooks, government documents, advertisements, media sources, oral histories, memoirs, and archival collections, Edible Histories offers a veritable feast of original research on Canada's food history and its relationship to culture and politics. This exciting collection explores a wide variety of topics, including urban restaurant culture, ethnic cuisines, and the controversial history of margarine in Canada. It also covers a broad time-span, from early contact between European settlers and First Nations through the end of the twentieth century. Edible Histories intertwines information of Canada's 'foodways' - the practices and traditions associated with food and food preparation - and stories of immigration, politics, gender, economics, science, medicine and religion. Sophisticated, culturally sensitive, and accessible, Edible Histories will appeal to students, historians, and foodies alike. -
Food in Time and Place
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ISBN: 9780520959347Publication Date: 2014-11-24Food and cuisine are important subjects for historians across many areas of study. Food, after all, is one of the most basic human needs and a foundational part of social and cultural histories. Such topics as famines, food supply, nutrition, and public health are addressed by historians specializing in every era and every nation. Food in Time and Place delivers an unprecedented review of the state of historical research on food, endorsed by the American Historical Association, providing readers with a geographically, chronologically, and topically broad understanding of food cultures--from ancient Mediterranean and medieval societies to France and its domination of haute cuisine. Teachers, students, and scholars in food history will appreciate coverage of different thematic concerns, such as transfers of crops, conquest, colonization, immigration, and modern forms of globalization. -
Food Mobilities
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ISBN: 9781487509026Publication Date: 2023-11-27Bringing together multidisciplinary scholars from the growing discipline of food studies, Food Mobilities examines food provisioning and the food cultures of the world, historically and in contemporary times. The collection offers a range of fascinating case studies, including explorations of Italian food in colonial Ethiopia, traditional Cornish pasties in Mexico, migrant community gardeners in Toronto, and beer all around the world. In exploring the origins of the contemporary global food system and how we cook and eat today, Food Mobilitiesuncovers the local and global circulation of food, ingredients, cooks, commodities, labour, and knowledge. -
Food Will Win the War
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ISBN: 9780774827638Publication Date: 2014-05-21During WWII, as Canada struggled to provide its allies with food, nutritionists warned that malnutrition could derail the war effort. Posters admonished women and children to "Eat Right, Feel Right" because "Canada Needs You Strong" while cookbooks helped housewives become "housoldiers" through food rationing, menu substitutions, and household production. Food Will Win the War explores the symbolic and material transformations that food and eating underwent during the war and the profound social, political, and cultural changes that took place in the 1940s. Through official food guides and policies, the state took unprecedented steps into the kitchens of the nation, transforming the way women cooked, what their families ate, and how people thought about food. Canadians, in turn, rallied around food and nutrition to articulate new visions of citizenship for their postwar future. -
The Routledge History of Food
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ISBN: 9781317621126Publication Date: 2014-10-03The history of food is one of the fastest growing areas of historical investigation, incorporating methods and theories from cultural, social, and women's history while forging a unique perspective on the past. The Routledge History of Food takes a global approach to this topic, focusing on the period from 1500 to the present day. Arranged chronologically, this title contains 17 originally commissioned chapters by experts in food history or related topics. Each chapter focuses on a particular theme, idea or issue in the history of food. The case studies discussed in these essays illuminate the more general trends of the period, providing the reader with insight into the large-scale and dramatic changes in food history through an understanding of how these developments sprang from a specific geographic and historical context. Examining the history of economic, technological, and cultural interactions between cultures and charting the corresponding developments in food history, The Routledge History of Food challenges readers' assumptions about what and how people have eaten, bringing fresh perspectives to well-known historical developments. It is the perfect guide for all students of social and cultural history.
A Sampling of Freely Accessible Primary Sources
Many governmental bodies, academic and public libraries, museums, and private organizations are creating digital collections. Often access is free of charge. You may find items including manuscripts and rare print resources including printed ephemera such as branded recipe booklets.
Search specific institutions or try using a reliable search engine.
By Institution:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Manuscripts (University of Toronto)
On the first page of results, one item, "Arithmetic exercise and cookery recipe book" is described in the catalogue record as being the work of Elizabeth Binge, 1828-1838, created in Dersingham & Lynn Regis, England.
On the second page of results, there is a "Cookbook of British recipes," "Cookery and medical receipt book," "Culinary and medicinal recipe book," and, "Culinary recipe book." There are additional medical and cooking recipes on following pages of results.
University of Toronto Scarborough
Harley J. Spiller collection [of menus]
Brazilian Menu collection
Robert Bon Lee collection
The New York Public Library digital collections A simple search for recipes returns a fabulous collection of recipes on cigarette cards as well as manuscript items, pamphlets and even a photograph.
Toronto Public Library Digital Collection A simple search for recipes returns printed ephemera and photographs.
By Internet
You may want to try to focus your search by including key words such as archives, manuscripts, or "primary sources"
For example, using Google, and the terms canadian cooking archives you will find some interesting entries with information on archived exhibitions held by Library and Archives Canada, and information about the University of Guelph's large cookbook collection.
One item is as follows:
Recipes | Wartime Canada
Wartime Canada is a window into the Canadian experience during the First and Second World Wars. Take a step back in time. Explore the Archive Category: Eating to find recipes, menus and more.
Restaurant and Food Menus available on the Internet Archive