Search.Libraries
Visit Search.Libraries to find books, journal articles, scores, audio, video, and more—all from a single integrated starting point.
Books and Ebooks
Call Numbers Starting with TP
If a call number starts with TP, it is generally a book related to chemical technology.
- TP368-456: Food processing and manufacture
- TP500-600: Fermentation industries. Beverages. Alcohol.
Call Numbers Starting with TX
If a call number starts with TX, it is generally a book related to home economics. Here are some general guidelines:
- TX341-641: Nutrition. Foods and Food Supply.
- This range includes works on the general history of food, human nutrition, food supply, and food habits.
- TX353: Specifically dedicated to food history
- TX360-361: Covers diet and the food supply of different countries and groups.
- TX642-840: Cooking. This range covers the history of cooking, gastronomy, and cookbooks.
Here are some subject headings to use in Search.Libraries:
General Food-related Subject Headings
- Chocolate
- Chocolate -- History
- Cocoa
- Cocoa -- History
- Food -- Encyclopedias
- Food habits -- Encyclopedias
- Food history
- Sugar
- Sugar -- History
General food history
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Food History Almanac: over 1,300 Years of World Culinary History, Culture, and Social Influence
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Call Number: Available as an eBookISBN: 1442227141Publication Date: 2013-12-24The Food History Almanac offers 365 days of global food history, from medieval times to today. Each daily entry highlights notable events, celebrations, discoveries, famous meals, cookbook publications, and birthdays of key culinary figures. Drawing from historical cookbooks, journals, letters, and archives, food historian Janet Clarkson brings the past to life. Complete with recipes, illustrations, a bibliography, and an index, this lively reference delights food lovers, students, and history enthusiasts alike. -
The Oxford Handbook of Food History
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Call Number: Main Library / TX353 .O94 2012ISBN: 9780199729937Publication Date: 2012-10-16The Oxford Handbook of Food History surveys the evolution of food studies as a serious academic field, tracing its roots from the French Annales school to modern interdisciplinary research. This collection of 27 essays places major works in context and charts new directions across themes of production, circulation, and consumption. Covering topics from agriculture and empire to cookbooks, fast food, and culinary tourism, it offers a global, cross-disciplinary roadmap for the study of food, culture, and society.
Cocoa / Chocolate
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Chocolate: A global history
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Call Number: Science Library / TP640 M67 2009ISBN: 9781861895240Publication Date: 2009-09-15Chocolate by Sarah Moss and Alec Badenoch traces humanity’s enduring love affair with chocolate — from its sacred role in Aztec and Mayan rituals to its rise as a symbol of luxury and desire. Once linked to blood, sin, and sexuality, chocolate evolved into an aphrodisiac and, eventually, a global indulgence mass-produced by brands like Hershey’s, Lindt, and Cadbury. Blending rich history with decadent imagery, this book explores how chocolate became one of the world’s most irresistible obsessions. -
The True History of Chocolate
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Call Number: Science Library / TP640 .C67 2007ISBN: 9780500286968Publication Date: 2007-10-29This bestselling history of chocolate blends botany, archaeology, and culinary research to trace its 3,000-year journey from the jungles of Mesoamerica to modern luxury. It follows Theobroma cacao from its use by the Maya and Aztecs as currency and ritual drink, through its European debut as an elite beverage, to its mass production in the industrial age. The updated edition includes new findings on cacao’s origins and fresh insights into chocolate’s medical and nutritional benefits. -
The West African Cocoa Story
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Call Number: Main Library / TX353 .C255 2000ISBN: 9780533004171Publication Date: 1972-01-01The West African cocoa story is a complex tale shaped by colonialism, exploitation, and enduring social and environmental struggles. Led by Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana—producers of most of the world’s cocoa—the region’s history is marked by forced and child labor, farmer poverty, and ongoing challenges in creating equitable and sustainable cocoa production.
Sugar
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Bittersweet : The story of sugar
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Call Number: Science Library / TP375.7 .M33 2002ISBN: 1865086576Publication Date: 2003-05-01An historical journey of the discovery and development of sugar around the world. -
Sugar: A bittersweet history
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Call Number: Main Library / TX560.S9 A23 2008ISBN: 9780143017134Publication Date: 2008Sugar: A Bittersweet History traces the global story of sugar — from luxury spice to everyday staple — revealing how it transformed diets, economies, and societies. Deeply researched and powerfully written, it explores sugar’s role in fueling the Industrial Revolution, driving slavery, and shaping modern fast-food culture.
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Flour Power | Full Documentary (PBS)Flour Power explores how milling made Minnesota. The story charts the growth of wheat farming, the harnessing of water power, the founders of the flour milling industry, and the expansion of the industry into global purveyors of industrialized food products.
Scholarly Articles
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The Cambridge World History of Food
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Call Number: Main Library / TX353 .C255 2000ISBN: 0521402166Publication Date: 2000-10-09This landmark two-volume work surveys the entire history of food and nutrition—from prehistoric diets to modern policy debates. It explores what humans have eaten, how foods shaped cultures and health, and how they were hunted, cultivated, or manufactured. Covering topics from food fads and taboos to additives and labeling, it also includes a dictionary of over 1,000 plant foods with their histories and common names, making it an indispensable resource on the evolution of what we eat. -
Food History
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Call Number: Main Library / TX353 .F635 2014ISBN: 9780857854230Publication Date: 2014-08-15Food History: Critical and Primary Sources is a four-volume reference collection that offers a comprehensive survey of food’s role across human history. Featuring over 80 essays, book excerpts, and historical documents, it blends contemporary scholarship with key primary sources to support new research in food history. -
The Oxford Companion to Food
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Call Number: Main Library Oversize / TX349 .D36 2014ISBN: 9780199677337Publication Date: 2014-10-01First published in 1999, The Oxford Companion to Food became an instant classic, blending rich food history, culinary expertise, and wit. Updated by Tom Jaine, the new edition expands on its vast catalog of global foods—from biscuits to breads—with fresh insights into food genetics, sociology, and modern issues like obesity and convenience foods. New entries spotlight influential figures such as Clarence Birdseye, Henri Nestlé, and Louis Pasteur. Combining scholarship and storytelling, it remains the definitive reference for anyone fascinated by the culture and history of what we eat.
The following are some of the top databases for Food Studies research. For a full list of databases at Oberlin, check out our Databases A-Z. Try limiting by Food Studies as a Subject!
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Bloomsbury Cultural History This link opens in a new window
Authoritative survey of cultural history topics. Each subject is looked at in Antiquity, the Medieval Age, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Age of Empire and the Modern Age and thematic coverage is consistent across all periods so that users can either gain a broad overview of a period or follow a theme through the ages.
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Bloomsbury Food Studies This link opens in a new windowBloomsbury Food Library offers cross-searchable access to a broad and expanding range of encyclopedias, references works, e-books, images, podcasts, and more.
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Food Studies Online This link opens in a new windowCollection of archival content, visual ephemera, books, and videos that explore how food shapes the world around us. Key themes and disciplines with extensive coverage represented include: marketing and consumerism, production and technology, food history, food movements, culinary and food design, food and identity, health, policy, religion, sociology, anthropology, and history. (Coverage dates: 1900-present)
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Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Scholarly literature in the sciences, health and medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities and proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. Includes cited reference searching across many databases. Search all databases in Web of Science (includes Medline and BIOSIS, direct link for on-campus users). Dates of coverage: 1965 to present.
