ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 656 / C&RL News ■ N o v e m b e r 2003 IN T E R N E T R E S O U R C E S Cookery and culinary history Web sites by Susan S u m m e rfie ld J ean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, “The discovery o f a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discove of a new star.”1 Perhaps the same happy sentiment is ex­ pressed when a culinary site with free and reliable information is discovered among the vast and varied culinary content on the Web. Online culinary resources can provide a wealth o f easily accessible information. Un­ like print sources, databases can be searched by multiple variables, such as ingredient or cooking method. The W eb resources selected for this ar­ ticle provide current information, including recip es from published, reliable sources; cooking techniques; and information on bev­ erages and wine. The historical culinary Web resources include information on culinary history, online exhibitions on the history of cooking, or full-text databases o f cookbooks, menus, and museum objects. Only Web sites that provide free access to information with­ out a subscription were chosen. Some Web sites do require establishing a log-in, but do not charge for access. M e t a sites: W h e re t o s ta r t • G ourm etSpot. This site is sponsor and compiled by StartSpot Network and pro­ vides links to dozens of Web resources, in­ cluding sites for recipes, which are organized ry under several subjects: general recipes, eth­ nic, healthy, kosher, vegetarian, and recipes from restaurants. Links to beverage Web sites and restaurant guides can also be searched. A guide to television programs on cooking on every network is very useful, as is a list o f culinary magazine Web sites and weekly food columns in national newspapers. A c­ cess: http://www.gourmetspot.com/. • T h e L i b r a r i a n s ’ I n d e x t o th e In tern et. The “Food & Cooking” page on this site provides excellent access to culi­ nary Web resources organized by subject. There is a general food category with links to 26 major culinary Web sites and 27 more specific subjects, such as gastronomy, raw foods, recipes, and food history. Each topic provides multiple links. The “Recipes” link provides access to general recipe Web sites and resources listed under special subjects, such as ethnic cookery or holiday cooking. A ccess: http://lii.org/search/file/food. • T h e F o o d T i m e l i n e . T h e F o o d Tim eline, created and maintained by the Morris County Public Library in New Jersey, is an excellent source for culinary history ed Web resources. The site is divided into a F o o d T im e lin e and a C u linary H istory I A b o u t t h e a u t h o r Susan S u m m erfie ld is th e d ire c to r o f technical services a t K e n da ll C ollege Library, e-m ail: ssum m erfield@ kendall.edu © 2003 Susan Summer field Culinary resources http://www.gourmetspot.com/ http://lii.org/search/file/food mailto:ssummerfield@kendall.edu C&RL News ■ Novem ber 2003 / 657 Timeline. The Food Timeline is organized by date, recipe, or agricultural advancement. It begins with prehistoric culinary informa­ tion and includes links for most major time periods, type of foods, and dishes up to the present day. The Culinary History Timeline is organized by date and by location and. also includes dozens of links to recipes, online exhibits, articles, and general Web re­ so u rces. A ccess : http://www.gti.net/ mocolibl/kid/food.html. The food timeline General cooking resources • Cooking.com . This commercial site provides access to articles and recipes com­ piled from published sources and written by chefs. Each recipe in the recipe database has a cited source and nutritional informa­ tion, and many include a picture of the dish. The recipes are searchable by ingredient, meal, cooking method, and ethnicity. Sug­ gestions for menus are organized by holi­ day and meal. There is a very good conver­ sion table and directions on how to mea­ sure liquid and solid measurements accu­ rately. Access: http://www.cooking.com. • Epicurious: The W orld’s Greatest Recipe Collection. Epicurious is a good place to start for recipes and general culi­ nary information. The site includes over 15,000 recipes compiled from Gourmet and B on Appétit magazines from the 1990s to the present. The site offers advanced search­ ing capabilities for the recipes, which can be limited by ingredient, ethnicity, course, method of preparation, and journal title. Under the link for “Drink,” there are drink recipes and wine reviews that can be limited by price, wine type, and region. Under the tab “Learn,” there is a 4,000-word food dic­ tionary and 3,500-word wine dictionaiy, as well as an etiquette guide for dining. The site also includes travel information, restau­ rant reviews, and access to discussion and news groups. Access: http://eat.epicurious. com/. • Food Network.com . This link pro­ vides information on the 50 cooking shows that air on the food network. The site pro­ vides advanced searching for 25,000 recipes drawn from all of the cooking shows. Under the link “Cooking,” cooking demos provide beginning, intermediate and advanced cook­ ing instructions, and tips are shown via still photographs and video clips. There is also a culinary Q&A to ask the chefs culinary ques­ tions, an encyclopedia of food, a fat/calorie counter, and an ingredient substitution list. The site also provides basic information on wine and pairing wine with food. Access: http://www.foodtv.com/. • Star Chefs. This site is comprised of the contributions of 100 famous chefs, in­ cluding pastry chefs, with links to their reci­ pes, biographies, and their restaurant Web sites. The site also provides access to an in­ ternational list of culinary schools, hotel and restaurant jobs, and extensive information on wine and wine pairing. The link “Com­ munity” provides several links to other culi­ nary Web sites, news groups, and culinary associations. The “Features” link lists articles on a variety of topics, including recipes, holi­ day cooking, cookbook reviews, travel in­ formation, and trends. The link "Ask the Experts” allows e-mail questions to be posted to chefs with their responses. A c­ cess: http://starchefs.com/. G overnm ent resources • Nutrition.gov. This site provides ac­ cess to a variety of government-sponsored resources and information on nutrition, food safety, and figures for American food con­ sumption. The site also provides links to re­ lated government Web sites on fitness and d isease p rev en tio n . A c c ess : http:// www.nutrition.gov. • Food & Nutrition Service. This gov­ ernment site on food and nutrition service provides information on national programs, such as the Food Stamp Program, the Na­ tional School Lunch Program, food distribu­ tion, and other federally funded hunger pre­ vention programs. A ccess: http://www. fns.usda.gov/fns/. C ulinary history: F ull-text sites and th ree-dim ensional object databases • F e ed in g A m e rica : T h e H is to ric A m erican C ookbook P ro ject. This da­ tabase is part of the Michigan State Univer­ sity Library’s digitized collections. The scanned images of 75 American cookbooks published betw een 1798 and 1922 are searchable by subject, title, and author. This http://www.gti.net/ http://www.cooking.com http://eat.epicurious http://www.foodtv.com/ http://starchefs.com/ http://www.nutrition.gov http://www 658 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2003 site also provides a glossary to the unfamil­ iar terms in the cookbooks and three-di- mensional images of culinary museum ob­ jects. A ccess: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/ cookbooks/. • H is to ry o f E a tin g U te n sils. This database, compiled by the Anthropology De­ partment at the California Academy of Sci­ ence, includes scanned images and infor­ mation on the history of eating utensils from sev eral cu ltu res. A c c e s s : http://www. calacadem y.org/research/anthropology/ utensil/index.html. • T he Menu C o lle ctio n I n d e x an d Im ages. The Los Angeles Public Library pro­ vides access to scanned im ages o f the library’s large collection o f 20th-century menus. The menus are from restaurants in Los Angeles and other cities, cruise lines, and airlines. The database is not complete, and menus continue to be added. Access: http ://www. lapl. org/elec_neigh/. • N icole Di B o n a P e te rs o n C o llec­ tio n o f A d v e rtisin g C o o k b o o k s. This site is part of Duke University Library’s Digi­ tal Scriptorium. This database provides scanned full-text images from 82 advertising cookbooks. It is searchable by subject, prod­ uct name, date, title, and company. Access: h ttp :/ / s c r ip to riu m .lib .d u k e .e d u / e a a / browse.html. C u lin a ry history: O n lin e e x h ib its • B on Appétit! Ju lia Child’s K itchen at th e Sm ithsonian. This site is sponsored by the Smithsonian and is the online com­ ponent of an exhibit at the National Museum of American History. Child donated her en­ tire kitchen and its contents from her Cam­ b rid g e , M a ssa ch u se tts, h om e to the Smithsonian. A three-dimensional view is provided of her kitchen. Scanned images of Child’s culinary tools are searchable and some tools include personal stories. Access: h t t p ://ww w . a m e r ic a n h is to r y . si.e d u / juliachild/. • K e y I n g r e d i e n t s : A m e r ic a Food . This site is also sponsored by the Smithsonian. It is the Web version of a trav­ b eling exhibit that examines the influences of region and ethnic cuisine on American dishes. The site provides historical informa­ tion on American foods from the year 1500 to the present, which can be examined by time period and region. A growing section of the Web site, “The American Cookbook Project,” allows the public to share a recipe and provide the family story or history be­ hind e a c h d ish. A c c e s s : http://w w w . keyingredients. org. • N ot b y B re a d A lo n e : A m e r ic a ’s Culinary Heritage. This online exhibit sur­ veys the development of American cuisine and th e h isto ry o f American culinary cul­ ture. This site provides scanned images from the culinary collections of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division at Cornell University Li­ brary. The exhibit exam­ ines the period when American cuisine b e ­ came distinct from Eu­ ropean cookery and fol­ lows the nation’s history and its effect on cuisine. A ccess: http:// rmc.library.Cornell.edu/food/default.htm. Journals • B e t t e r H o m e s a n d G a rd e n s . This popular journal provides recipes searchable by categories, such as cooking with kids, diets for special needs, and quick and easy meals that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. The site also provides access to articles, cooking instructions, chat and discussion groups, and calorie charts. Access: http:// bhg.com/bhg/food/index.jhtml. • F in e Cooking. This journal provides access to recipes, articles, and cooking in- structions that include video clips of the pro­ cess for some o f the instructions. Access: http ://www. taunton. com/finecooking/. • F o o d H isto ry News. This is a jour­ nal dedicated to culinary history. The Web site provides examples of historic recipes, a y http://digital.lib.msu.edu/ http://www http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/ http://www http://www C&RL News ■ N o v e m b e r 2003 / 659 calendar o f events from around the coun­ try, links to international museums with collections relating to food and beverage history, and a list o f resources on culi­ nary history. Access: http://foodhistorynews. com/. • V e g e t a r i a n T im e s . The V egetarian Times articles are available online from De­ cember 2000 through the current issue. This site is free but requires a log-in. The vegetar­ ian recipes are searchable by ingredient. It also provides useful suggestions for substi­ tutions and a glossary o f food items. A c­ cess: http ://www. vegetariantimes. com/. • W in e S p e c ta to r. This journal has thorough articles on wine recommendations. The site has good wine reference informa­ tion, such as vintage charts, introductory wine basics, information on wine tasting, and rec­ ommendations for wine and food pairing. A ccess: http://www .winespectator.com/ Wine/Home. Reference • All Y o u W a n t to K n o w C o n v e r­ s io n Table. This page, from the online journal Worldwide Gourmet, provides con­ version comparisons for American and Eu­ ropean liquid and solid measurements, as w ell as temperature conversion. A ccess: http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/ general/conversion.htm. • T h e C o o k ’s T h e s a u ru s . This site has won several awards for best culinary Web site. The Cook’s Thesaurus is an ency­ clopedia of foods with thousands of entries that include detailed information, pictures, cooking and measurement information, and suggestions for substitutions for recipes. A c­ cess: http://www.foodsubs.com/. • Edible Flow ers. Edible Flowers is a page from the What’s Cooking America Web site, com piled and maintained by Linda Stradley, cookbook author and television culinary personality. The information on edible flowers is compiled from a variety of online resources and provides images, in­ formation, and some recipes for edible flow­ ers. Access: http://whatscookingamerica.net/ EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm. • New spaper F ood Colum ns Online. This list of food columns from national pa­ pers is on the Recipe Link Web site. Access: http://www. allbaking.net/newspapers. htm. • S p ic e s E x o t i c F l a v o r s & M ed i­ cines. This database is sponsored by UCLA’s Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library. It pro­ vides scanned images of spices and includes the chemical makeup, medicinal properties, flavor, and history o f the spice. A ccess: http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/biom ed/ spice/index.cfm?displayID=2. E lectronic lists, n ew sg ro u ps, discussion g roups Most of the commercial and journal Web sites offer access to chat groups and discus­ sion groups. The Epicurious Web site offers several options organized by subject. • F o o d -R e la te d N e w s g ro u p s a n d Mailing Lists. This comprehensive list is found at RecipeLink.com. It is a list of news­ groups, discussion groups, and electronic lists on cooking and culinary topics. Access: h t t p ://w w w . a l lb a k in g , n e t / n e w s g r p . html. • AllRecipesO nly. This e-mail group only allows recipes to be posted without chat of any kind. To get a complete description of the site view: http://www.geocities.com/ Heartland/Meadows/1218/kitchen.html. To join the group, send an e-mail to: AllRecipesOnly- subscribe@yahoogroups.co. To post a message, visit: A llRecipesO nly@ yahoogroups.com . To unsubscribe, e-mail: AllRecipesOnly- unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. • The Food M anuscript P roject. This discussion group provides information on historical culinary texts. To subscribe, send an e -m a il to fo o d m a n u s c r ip tp ro je c t- subscribe@yahoogroups.com and to post a message, e-mail: foodmanuscriptproject@ yahoogroups.com. N ote 1. Je a n Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Project Gutenberg Ebook o f The P hysiol­ ogy o f Taste, April 2004. Available online at w w w .ib ib lio .o r g / g u te n b e rg / e t e x t04/ thphyl0.txt. ■ http://foodhistorynews http://www.winespectator.com/ http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/ http://www.foodsubs.com/ http://whatscookingamerica.net/ http://www http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/biomed/ http://www http://www.geocities.com/ mailto:subscribe@yahoogroups.co mailto:AllRecipesOnly@yahoogroups.com mailto:unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/e 660 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2003