Jeffrey M. Pilcher is Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of books on food in Mexican and world history, including the prize-winning Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican History, The Sausage Rebellion: Public Health, Private Enterprise and Meat in Mexico City and Food in World History. He is also editor of the Oxford Handbook of the History of Food.

According to its preface, this set “seeks to guide readers through the voluminous literature now available on the history and culture of food.” This interdisciplinary, chronologically arranged collection of 76 previously published works compiled by Pilcher begins with human evolution and the establishment of agrarian and pastoral societies and ends with coverage of provisions in the 21st century. VERDICT: An excellent research starting point that may be of some interest to history, anthropology, cuisine, and nutrition students and faculty.

• 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

Jeffrey M. Pilcher is Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of books on food in Mexican and world history, including the prize-winning Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican History, The Sausage Rebellion: Public Health, Private Enterprise and Meat in Mexico City and Food in World History. He is also editor of the Oxford Handbook of the History of Food.

According to its preface, this set “seeks to guide readers through the voluminous literature now available on the history and culture of food.” This interdisciplinary, chronologically arranged collection of 76 previously published works compiled by Pilcher begins with human evolution and the establishment of agrarian and pastoral societies and ends with coverage of provisions in the 21st century. VERDICT: An excellent research starting point that may be of some interest to history, anthropology, cuisine, and nutrition students and faculty.

• 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

Jeffrey M. Pilcher is Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of books on food in Mexican and world history, including the prize-winning Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican History, The Sausage Rebellion: Public Health, Private Enterprise and Meat in Mexico City and Food in World History. He is also editor of the Oxford Handbook of the History of Food.

According to its preface, this set “seeks to guide readers through the voluminous literature now available on the history and culture of food.” This interdisciplinary, chronologically arranged collection of 76 previously published works compiled by Pilcher begins with human evolution and the establishment of agrarian and pastoral societies and ends with coverage of provisions in the 21st century. VERDICT: An excellent research starting point that may be of some interest to history, anthropology, cuisine, and nutrition students and faculty.

• 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