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General tips & basic strategies
What is the history of your favorite food? That depends upon the food and how deep you want to dig. Take tiramasu. This dish was "created" in the late 20th century. You could find a few magazines articles confirming period popularity/origination and stop there. Or? You could go the next level and research the recipe based on composition. You would soon discover this dish was based on Victorian-era moulded creams which were based on Colonial-era tipsy cakes which were inspired by Renaissance-era trifles.

EVOLUTION VS. INVENTION
Very few (if any) foods are invented. Most are contemporary twists on traditional themes. Louis Diat's famous Vichysoisse was a childhood favorite. Today's grilled cheese sandwich is connected to ancient cooks who melted cheese on bread. 1950s meatloaf is connected to ground cooked meat products promoted at the turn of the 20th century, which are, in turn related to ancient Roman minces. Need more? Corn dogs and weiner schnitzel. French fries and Medieval fritters. New York gyros and Middle Eastern doner kebabs. Hershey's Kisses and ancient Incan cocoa.

Where to begin?
Check food history encyclopedias and dictionaries. Standard sources noted here. Cuisine/period cookbooks and history sources may also be helpful.

Advanced techniques
One of the most challenging aspects of recipe research is identifying common themes and making connections. A survey of cookbooks through time often reveals similar recipes with different names. A careful inspection of ingredients and cooking instruction confirms or refutes culinary lineage. To complicate matters, variant spellings often appear in older texts. Of course, the first "real" appearance of any recipe often predates the first occurance of recorded in print by several years.

1. Examine old cookbooks.
Work your way back from the current recipe. Look for similarities in ingredient and method. BEWARE. Recipes change names.

2. Research the history of each ingredient.
Old world or new? Rare commodity or common ingredient? Apple pie is an American icon, but apples aren't native to our country. Tomato sauce is the cornerstone of many popular Italian dishes, but these fruits (as they are botanically classed) weren't known to Europe until the 16th century. West African Lemony Chicken Okra Soup. Some foods (rice, beans, pork, bread, soup) are nearly ubiquitious. These recipes evolved according to ingredient availability, technological advancement, and local taste.

PRODUCT HISTORIES
If the product is still being made, start with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office database. This will give date of first introduction, original manufacturer and (usually) current trademark holder. Corporate "biographies," article databases, product histories, and company Web sites often provide details on the product's introduction, market strategy, consumer trends, variations (the iterations of Oreos), packaging, and pricing. Anniversary articles (100th anniversary of Jell-0 celebrated in 1997) often provide excellent overviews.

"LOST RECIPES"
Family favorites can sometimes be recovered. It is very helpful if you have some idea of recipe origination: cookbook, magazine article, newspaper clipping, radio/television show, "back of the box," contest winner? Where did the cook usually get her recipes? Where and when (1930s Quebec) is important for tracking local fare. The cook's ethnic heritage (Polish Jew, French Canadian, West African) is crucial for locating "grandmother's traditional" recipes. Sources: old cookbooks, recipe exchanges, period media.

RESTAURANT DISHES
Signature recipes from famous restaurants fall into three categories:

1. Authentic

Selected signature recipes released by the restaurant and/or copyright owners. These are found restaurant cookbooks, proprietior's/head chef's memoirs, and granted publication by heirs to restaurant "biographers" and journalists. Example? Brennan's Bananas Foster.

2. KopyKat

Recreations based on memory. Some of these can be pretty accurate, depending upon the culinary finesse of the recreator. These recipes circulate freely on the Internet and are easy to find. In Chasen's case it's Liz Taylor's favorite chili. Some CopyKat recipe collections are on the Internet. Others are printed in books.

3. Unavailable. Period. End of story.

Many beloved Horn & Hardart recipes fall into this category. Also included in this category: Kentucky Derby Pie, Colonel Sander's Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the original (pre U-Bet) chocolate sauce used for Brooklyn egg creams.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Researching the history of a specific cuisine, recipe, food, or product often requires using a variety of sources to develop a complete and accurate picture. Depending upon the question, the answer may require:

• Culinary history encyclopedias and dictionaries: basic overview
  Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America/Smith, Oxford Companion to Food/Davidson, An A to Z of Food and Drink/Ayto, Cambridge World History of Food/Kiple & Ornelas, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z/Dalby, History of Food/Toussaint-Samat, The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink/Mariani, American Century Cookbook/Anderson.
• Dictionaries & phrase books: first recorded print evidence, word history, regional placement
  Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of Americanisms/Mitford, Dictionary of American Regional English/Cassidy, I Hear America Talking/Flexner
• Food "biographies": history and evolution of a specific commodity or recipe
  The Story of Corn/Fussell, The Tomato in America/Smith, The True History of Chocolate/Coe, A Social History of Tea/Pettigrew, Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed our World, Pendergrast. Identify titles with the Library of Congress catalog. Your librarian can help you obtain the books.
• Culinary history texts: period and/or place specific
  America's First Cuisines/Coe, Food and Feast in Tudor England/Sim, Food in Early Modern Europe/Albala, A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food/K.T. Achaya, Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age fo the 19th Century/Wilson, Classic Russian Cooking/Toomre, Jewish Cooking in America/Nathan
• Business history sources: company/brand histories, advertising campaigns
  How Products are Made, Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands,
• Databases & indexes:recipes, product introductions/anniversaries, prices
  magazine/newspaper/trade journal databases are great places to find "lost recipes." Ask your librarian about access. New York Times Historic, EBSCO's Masterfile, ProQuest's Research II, National Newspapers, and New York Times Historic, LexisNexis Requester. With the exception of New York Times Historic and similar scanned full-text databases, adertisements are not indexed.
• Government documents: patents, trademarks (product introduction date), recipes, & prices. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture,
• Botanical/agricultural texts: crop origins, evolution, and dispersal
  Origin of Cultivated Plants/De Candolle
• Academic references: scholarly research on specific foods, historic foodways, scientific process, etc.
  Dissertation Abstracts, Historical Abstracts, America: History & Life, Sociological Abstracts, Agricola
• Primary sources: period cookbooks, company brochures, menus, grocers handbooks, diaries, store ledgers, photographs & newspaper ads.
  Libraries, museums, historical societies, living history museums & industry/company archives. Outstanding culinary history library collections (U.S.): Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Iowa, Michgan State University, New York Academy of Medicine, New York Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library.
• Experts: request guidance, confirm facts
  Culinary researchers, foodways curators, chefs, professors, government officials, corporate information officers, book authors, historical reenactors (Society for Creative Anachronism=Medieval food specialists).
• Internet: product histories, primary documents, recipe exchanges
  These are uploaded by food manufacturers, research institutions, food media sites, and private individuals.
• Personal research: interviews, investigations, redactions, and tastings.

Sometimes the answer to a food history question is straightforward and easy to confirm (the ingredients of the original Dagwood sandwich). Other times the answer is a complicated puzzle (Club sandwiches) with conflicting pieces. And then? There are questions for which there are no satisfactory answers (Who named the "monkey dish?").There are times when the best one can do is assemble as much information as possible and make educated guesses based on supporting historical evidence. Croissants, ice cream cones, pink lemonade...culinary lore abounds.

In short, food history is not a "piece of cake."

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About this site, about culinary research & about copyright.

Who is Lynne Olver? A reference librarian with a passion for food history. Food history credentials include contributorship to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith, editor in chief (2004) and presentations for the Montclair Historical Society, NJ. Ms. Olver consults regularly with food editors, writers, students, and chefs worldwide providing background material and fact checking services. The Food Timeline was selected by Saveur as one of the top 100 sites (2004). Please note, Ms. Olver is not a chef. Culinary training (if you call it that!) was a 4 year stint as a short order cook in college. Ms. Olver is employed full-time as Chief Librarian, Morris County Library (NJ), where she supervises Reference Services. She holds a Masters in Library Science from S.U.N.Y. Albany and is licensed by the State of New Jersey. She was honored by The New York Times as Librarian of the Year, Morris County (2002) for helping people find jobs. The Food Timeline is recognized by the American Library Association as one of the Great Web Sites for Kids. Member: International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and American Library Association (ALA). Please contact Ms. Olver by e-mail.

Why is our site free?
The Food Timeline was conceived and created by a public librarian. Our profession is devoted to providing fair and equitable access to information irregardless of ability to pay.