Resources for Books on African American Cooking & Foodways
- 47 Food Studies Books, Not Just for Black History Month (Emily Contois) These books matter as they address many themes, including: the significant contributions of African and African American foodways to “American” food culture; the knowledge, expertise, and agency of enslaved people, expressed through agriculture, cooking and domestic labor, botanical medical traditions, and food commerce; the meaning and historical trajectory of soul food; and the intersections of food and race with embodiment, health, medicine, agriculture, and power.
- 21 Black-Authored Cookbooks to Add to Your Shelf (Food52) oday, we're celebrating Black-authored cookbooks (keep an eye out for future articles on black-authored food books and black-created blogs). We understand this is a small start.
- Elevating the visibility of black cookbook authors (Eat Your Books) American cuisine, especially that of the American South, owes a great deal to the influence of black cooks. As Smithsonian Magazine explains, it was often enslaved black chefs who created the feasts that gave the South its reputation for hospitality.
Related Guides
Menu Collections
- 1850s and 1860s Hotel and Restaurant Menus, University of Houston These mid-nineteenth century menus located in the Hospitality Industry Archives at the Hilton College of the University of Houston reveal a treasure trove of historical information. The menus relate not only the regional cuisine of the particular restaurant but also show some of the cultural and social norms of society. The menus are from hotel restaurants, stand-alone restaurants, and steamships.
- Culinary Institute of America Menu Collection The Culinary Institute of America’s special collection of over 40,000 historical menus includes menus from CIA restaurants and donations from major menu collectors, including George Lang, Chapman S. Root, Vinnie Oakes, and Roy Andries de Groot. Assembled over decades, the collection illustrates the history of dining in America and abroad, with menus from all of the states and over 80 countries, as well as ships, railroads and airlines.
- Los Angeles Public Library Menu Collection. A database of menus from Los Angeles, other cities, steamships, airlines and banquets. Images of the actual menus are being added. The address and telephone number of the restaurant is given, plus the menu date, cuisine type, meal, and price range.
- National Restaurant Association Menu Collection, Johnson & Wales University These menus are part of a collection that was donated to Johnson & Wales University Library by the National Restaurant Association. Many of the menus featured were part of their menu design contests in the 1980s and 1990s.
- Menu Collection of the Northwestern University Transportation Library The menu collection comprises over 400 menus from 54 national and international airline carriers, cruise ships, and railroad companies, dating from 1929 to the present, with a particular focus on mid-to-late 20th century air transportation. The menus preserve a glimpse of the golden age of air travel in which fine dining, fine wines, and thoughtful design created a passenger experience of mystique and allure.
- Menus: The Art of Dining, UNLV Libraries, Special Collections The majority of menus selected for this digital project came from the Bohn-Bettoni Collection, which consists of approximately 2000 restaurant menus dating from 1870-1930.
- Menus at the Nobel Banquet The Nobel Banquet is held every year on 10 December to celebrate the years Nobel Laureates. Each Banquet has included a unique menu for the guests. Have a peek of the menus below – from the start in 1901 up until today.
- Menus Collection, University of Washington This collection represents menus, placemats, and other graphic materials from many of the Puget Sound area's most famous restaurants and dining facilities in the years between 1889 and 2003. Restaurants in all styles and classes of trade are represented, from lunch counters to first class gourmet fare. Also included in the collection are travel-related menus from ships, railroads, and airplanes.
- What's on the Menu? Help Transcribe the NYPL Menu Collection We’re transcribing our historical restaurant menus, dish by dish, so that they can be searched by what people were eating back in the day. It’s a big job so we need your help!
Libraries & Organizations
Libraries & Library Research Guides
- American Antiquarian Society Library, Cookbook Collection The American Antiquarian Society has a spectacular collection of approximately 1,200 of the earliest American cookbooks. Almanacs and household manuals often contained recipes (or “receipts” as they were called then) for food and household products.
- Arthur & Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America The library holds more than 100,000 volumes, ranging from rare 16th-century texts to 21st-century titles. Approximately 20,000 of these volumes are cookbooks or food related
- John & Bonnie Boyd Hospitality & Culinary Library Located in New Orleans, the John & Bonnie Boyd Hospitality & Culinary Library contains over 11,000 volumes of culinary books, food and cocktail menus, pamphlets, archival documents and a growing number of important collections, other literature and ephemera, all collected by and donated to the Southern Food & Beverage Museum. The collection is non-circulating but available for reference.
- New England Chowder Compendium, UMass Amherst Pulling from the archives of the Beatrice McIntosh Cookery Collection at the University of Massachusetts this compendium hopes to investigate the hows and whys of chowder's rise to its place as an essential part of New England regional cuisine through recipes, advertisements, and other forms of visual expression.
- "Food for Thought," Blog entry, Congregational Library & Archives "As we continue to feature the CLA's food-related collections for Archives Month, it feels like a perfect opportunity to share some of our favorite recipes, advertisements, and food related stories highlighted from our collections between the 17th and 20th centuries." The Library is at 14 Beacon St., Boston.
Organizations
- Culinary Historians of Canada The mission of the Culinary Historians of Canada is to inspire appreciation and advance knowledge of Canada’s food history. The CHC researches, interprets, preserves and celebrates Canada’s culinary heritage, which has been shaped by the food traditions of the First Nations peoples and generations of immigrants from all parts of the world. Through programs, events and publications, CHC educates its members and the public about the foods and beverages of Canada’s past.
- Southern Foodways Alliance The Southern Foodways Alliance documents, studies, and explores the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. Our work sets a welcome table where all may consider our history and our future in a spirit of respect and reconciliation.
