The 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.

Introduction. 1500-1700 1. The Magic of Japanese Rice Cakes 2. Food Production, Consumption and Identity Politics in Tahuantinsuyu and Colonial Perú 3. Stimulants and Intoxicants in Europe, 1500-17004. Science, Food and Health in Choson Korea1700-1900 5. Food Shortage in New Spain: Maize, Food Policies and the Construction of a Patriotic Identity, 1785-18076. "If the King had really been a father to us": Failed Food Diplomacy in Eighteenth-Century Sierra Leone 7. Stolen Bodies, Edible Memories: The Influence and Function of West African Foodways in the Early British Atlantic8. Spreading the Word: Using Cookbooks and Colonial Memoirs to Examine the Foodways of British Colonials in Asia, 1850-19009. The Globalization of Alcohol and Temperance from the Gin Craze to Prohibition10. "Peace on earth among the orders of creation": Vegetarian Ethics in the United States Before World War I 11. Food, Medicine and Institutional Life in the British Isles, c.1790-1900 12. Industrializing Diet, Industrializing Ourselves: Technology, Energy, and Food, 1750-20001990-present 13. The Evolution of a Fast Food Phenomenon: The Case of American Pizza14. Cooking Class: The Rise of the "Foodie" and the Role of Mass Media15. Tourism, Cuisine, and the Consumption of Culture in the Caribbean16. Food and Migration in the Twentieth Century17. Quick Rice: International Development and the Green Revolution in Sierra Leone, 1960-1976