State Library of Queensland > Collections > Food > Food, culture and wine

FOOD, CULTURE AND WINE

Presentation of food from Silks restaurant, Townsville, 1986. Gale Collection. Image no. 601-16-04

M. Tardent boiling the billy. Picture Queensland. Image no. APU-048-0001-0005

Food culture in Italy (cover title courtesy of Bowker Syndetics)

Simple by Nikonized, on Flickr

Food culture in Spain (cover title courtesy of Bowker Syndetics)

A collection of Food, culture and wine books

A collection of wine books: an image from our corporate library. The books form part of the State Library collection.

Food and culture

All cultures have complex rules, traditions, customs and rituals around the making and sharing of food. The State Library of Queensland has an extensive collection of books about the history, anthropology and sociology of food and eating. The Greenwood Press series Food Culture Around the World and the handsomely illustrated Culinaria collection are luscious examples of titles in the collection that link food and culture.
Use subject headings ‘food social aspects’ or ‘food habits’ to find reference works like the Gale Encyclopedia of food and culture (edited by world famous food historian William Woys Weaver) and books like Margaret Visser’s fascinating Much depends on dinner : the extraordinary history and mythology, allure and obsessions, perils and taboos of an ordinary meal.

Wine

The State Library has a sumptuous collection of atlases, encyclopaedias, books and magazines devoted to all aspects of drink – viticulture, wine appreciation, wine regions, grape varieties, spirits and liquors, wine tourism and much more. Included are comprehensive works like Jancin Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine, the Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine, James Halliday’s Wine Atlas of Australia, Hugh Johnson’s Modern Encyclopedia of Wine and classics like George Saintsbury’s 1920s Notes on a Cellar-Book.

“Wine, the most delightful of drinks, whether we owe it to Noah, who planted the vine, or to Bacchus, who pressed juice from the grape, goes back to the childhood of the world.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste.

Cooking outdoors

The backyard barbie and family camping cookups are part of the many influences on the food culture of Queenslanders. The State Library's collection contains a selection of items with recipe ideas for something different in the outdoors, from the proudly Australian Swinging the billy : indigenous and other styles of Australian bush cooking, to the challengingly practical Gorp, glop & glue stew : favourite foods from 165 outdoor experts. The quirky Hawaii's Spam cookbook provides an unusual glimpse of the melting pot of ethnic foods in these popular holiday islands, using virtually indestructible canned meats.

Food and nutrition

Whether you want to slim down, fatten up, find out about being a locavore, or what the differences are between the ‘raw food’ diet and the ‘no carbohydrate’ diet, or simply provide cost-effective nutritional meals for your family, the State Library can help. Our collections include many books, dictionaries, encyclopaedias and journals focusing on food, nutrition, food composition, cookery for good health and diet therapy.

Databases & journals

The State Library has a number of databases you can use to find full text journal, magazine and newspaper articles.

The Gale Health & Wellness database has full text encyclopaedic, peer-reviewed and popular consumer articles on aspects of nutrition, diet and health.

The Australian Public Affairs database (APA full text) will lead you to the full text of Australian journals like the Australian journal of nutrition and dietetics.

The Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre database is another good source for full text journals and newspapers. The Australian & New Zealand Wine Industry Journal is an example of the kind of journal you will find in this database.

The Journal of Wine Research published by the Institute of Masters of Wine in the UK is an international journal that publishes the results of recent research on all aspects of viticulture, oenology and the international wine trade. You’ll find its peer-reviewed articles in the Business Source Premier database.

Articles about food, culture and society can be found in journals like the Sociological Quarterly. Use the wonderful Jstore database to find issues of this journal back as far as 1960.

Did you know?

Did you know that it’s legal to drink absinthe again?!

Known as la fee verte, absinthe was manufactured by the House of Pernod, and savoured all through the 19th century by artists like Toulouse Lautrec, Degas, Manet, Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde until it was banned in 1908 due to its link with madness. Its principal ingredient of wormwood contained the oil of thujone – now known to be a neurotoxin and the cause of the convulsions and hallucinations amongst those who imbibed it.

Absinthe is now being manufactured in France and Spain (without the toxin) and can be enjoyed at the heure verte without risk of madness.

Read about this fascinating drink in Jad Adam’s Hideous absinthe : a history of the devil in a bottle in the State Library reading room on Level 2.

How do I access items in this collection?

Access at the State Library

Find items in the collection via our One Search catalogue.
Browse Levels 2, 3 and 4 or request items from onsite ‘Closed Access’ storage with your e-services card. If you order Closed Access items via the One Search catalogue ahead of your visit, items should be waiting for you when you arrive. You can order up to 3 days in advance. See delivery times for more information.
Use our e-collections computers on level 2 to search the library’s catalogue; to search our databases for electronic journal, magazine and newspaper articles and to view images and manuscripts from our collection. These e-collections computers do not need to be booked and have no time limits on use.
You can also access our electronic resources via the State Library’s free wireless service if you have a laptop. Check our Info Guide on how to access wireless for details.

Access offsite

You can access selected offsite databases to search for electronic journal, magazine and newspaper articles offsite via any Internet enabled device. You will be prompted to login with your e-services card or QPL account.
Some State Library items are available for loan to other libraries. Contact your local library for information about interlibrary loan and copy services.

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Last updated: 18th May 2012

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