General tips & strategies...wondering where to get started? Need more detailed/updated new food product timeline? I have an old cook book without a cover, is there a way to identify it? How much is my old cook book worth? Who uses the Food Timeline research service & why? Food Timeline FAQs Complete catalog of Food Timeline answers Our bookshelf Who is Lynne Olver?

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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."

Need to construct a more detailed/updated new food product timeline?
There are several sources you can use to construct your own food product timeline. Sources vary according to your definition of "food invention" (brand new product, or variation of extant line (mini oreos) and purpose of your project. Yes, this is research! If you need new USA commercial food products, year-by-hear we suggest you check:

• Newspaper article databases
  ...keyword search "new food" or the manufacturer's name with the word new [kellogg's and new]. There you will get new product announcements, advertising notes & marketing strategy. Ask local public librarian how to access.
• Company webs
  ...some offer company history/timeline detailing major innovations & new products. Press release archives announce new items.
• US Patent & Trademark Office
  ...search by company (owner/patent assignee) or classification/limit by date). Available free on Internet.
• Commerical market research reports
  ...expensive! NPD Foodworld is one of the most well known. Published reports are not available in public libraries.
• Newproductsonline.com
  ...trade journal devoted to Food & Beverage industries.
• Trade shows
  ...google (trade show food) to identify shows featuring new food products & innovations. Some food categories have their own associations & trade show. EX: Snack Food Association.

I have an old cook book without a cover or title page, is there a way to identify it?
If your cook book has no standard identifying standard marks (title page, publishers marking/imprint, author, location) you might still be able to identify it. We find books like this from time to time. Physical description notes in catalogs of major collections (national libraries, university libraries, special collections housed in archives and museums) are gold.

1. Take a physical inventory: number of pages (including any frontispiece material, last numbered page) and actual size (height, width, depth). Include any blank pages bound in the volume, noting where they appear.
2. Check the physical printing/paper used. The older the book, the more "pourous" the paper. Ink itself may appear imprinted deeply. Typeface offers clues, as well as typographic conventions (18th c. sometimes adds marks at the bottom of right-hand page to indicate recipe is continued on the next page). As a general rule, the older the book, the better the quality paper & more likely it is to be in excellent readable shape.
3. Illustrations? If so, where & of what?
4. Arrangement: index in front or back? How are the recipes grouped? Is there an introduction? Advertisements included? Special section devoted to invalid, Lenten, medicinal, food preservation recipes?
5. Recipes: Title, ingredients, method and presentation offer the best clues for approximate dating. Subtle nuances of method for popular recipes (macaroons, sally lunn, &c.) are key for tracing evolution & ultimately dating the item.

How much is my old cook book worth?
The Food Timeline DOES NOT provide valuing services. Those services are provided by professional antiquarian booksellers, licensed appraisers, and auction houses. Free online sources for approximate values are used booksellers (Alibris, AbeBooks, UsedBookCentral, etc.) and EBay. Antique Trader's Collectible Cookbooks Price Guide/Patricia Edwards & Peter Peckham, provides price ranges for selected popular American books. Used/old book stores often have sections devoted to cookooks; check to see what the "going" retail rate is. Check item carefully for year published and edition.

Please note: the value of old cook books, like anything else, is based on what buyers are willing to pay. Most mass produced cookbooks from the 20th century have low value on the open market. Of course, there are exceptions. Autographed copies, first editions, limited or special editions, are generally worth more than subsequent counterparts. Pre-20th century cookbooks generally have more value because they are harder to find.

In all cases, condition of the item plays a key role in determing value. Original binding, covers, dust jackets, no missing pages, no writing (unless the owner was famous), no stains or obvious wear.

Whether you're selling or buying, it pays to do your homework!

Welcome to the Food Timeline's answer service

SERVICE NOTES

• Our service is free and welcomes everyone.
• We prefer you contact us via e-mail. Makes life easier to scan & send requested pages, esp. old recipes.
• Questions beyond our food history scope will be answered with resource recommendations.
• If you don't hear from us within 48 hours check yr spam mail. Sometimes our answers drop there! Other reasons you might not hear from us: firewalls or your mailbox is full.

Who is Lynne Olver?
A reference librarian with a passion for food history. Her current position is Director, Morris County Library, Whippany, NJ. Since March 1999, she's welcomed 15 million customers and answered 21,000+ food history questions. Free. Why? Because public librarians are dedicated to connecting people with information. From elementary students seeking recipes for state reports to master chefs recreating historic menus.

Ms. Olver consults regularly with food editors, writers, students, living history museums and chefs worldwide providing original content, background material, fact checking services, and document delivery. She is regularly tapped by journalists writing for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, America's Test Kitchens, Cooks Illustrated, FoodTV, and Saveur. The Food Timeline was selected by Saveur as one of the top 100 sites (2004). Details on the FT's origin and evolution chronicled by Culinary Types/TW Barritt.

Published credentials include the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith, editor in chief [Mock Foods] and "The Truth About Clams Casino," Gastronomica, Winter 2009.

The Food Timeline is recognized by the American Library Association as one of the Great Web Sites for Kids. The site received a three star review in Choice, July 2009. Member: International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), American Library Association (ALA) & Public Library Association (PLA).

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. She is an intuitive cook who views recipes as starting points for personal inspiration. Her weekly artisan bread endeavors have no recipes, no names. Some loaves work better than others. None of them can be replicated. If we're lucky, life gives us a few delicious chances to experiment. When the results taste good, huzzah!

About this site, about culinary research & about copyright.