Food History: Critical and Primary Sources is an indispensable four-volume reference collection which focuses on the widest possible span of food in human history, to provide a comprehensive survey of problems and methods in the field of food history. Bringing together over 80 high-quality essays drawn from journal articles, book chapters, excerpts and historical documents and supported by introductory essays and a wealth of contextual material, this important new reference work combines contemporary scholarship with selected primary sources allowing scholars to use this as a starting point for their own historical research.The volumes are divided chronologically, moving from human evolution and the origins of complex societies to the agrarian and pastoral societies of the classical and post-classical eras, to the age of global contact and early industrialization, to the transition to industrial diets in the contemporary era. Each volume is introduced by an essay from the editor and is divided into broad thematic categories and offers a range of methodological approaches, multidisciplinary appeal and broad geographical coverage, highlighting how the field has developed over time and investigating how and why food is different at different points in world history.This will be an essential addition to libraries and a major scholarly resource for researchers involved in the study of food in world history.

An indispensable four-volume collection comprising over 80 historical and contemporary sources on food throughout history to present a comprehensive survey of approaches, methods and issues.

Volume One: Origins [to 500 BCE]Evolution and DomesticationForaging and FarmingEarly Agrarian and Pastoral SocietiesVolume Two: Classical and Postclassical Eras [500 BCE TO 1500 CE]Labor and SubsistenceExchange and ReciprocityTaste and StatusVolume Three: Global Contact and Early Industrialization [1500 to 1900 CE]Dietary ExchangesCommercial TransformationsIndustrial FoodsCulinary RevolutionsImperial ConsumptionVolume Four: Contemporary Transitions [from 1900 CE]Industrial TransitionsPolitical TransitionsCulinary TransitionsDietary TransitionsAppendix of Sources