LibGuides: Culinary & Baking Arts: Background Information

Reference Books for Background Information

When starting a research project, it's always a good idea to get background information on your topic. Reference books such as subject encyclopedias and dictionaries, handbooks, and manuals, are great places to start. These can be very helpful for obtaining a general overview of your topic. They can also help you decide which aspect of a topic you may wish to focus on, and place a topic within the broader context of a subject discipline.

An article in a reference book will often include cross-references to additional, related articles within that same source, as well as a bibliography listing outside sources for further reading.

Reference books do not leave the library. However, you may photocopy, scan, or take pictures of pages in reference books. The book descriptions below come from bibliographic records in the library catalog.

Selected Reference Books

This is just a selection of what STLCC Libraries have to offer. Click on a title for more information about the book, including which campus library owns it. Additional reference sources are available. Please ask a reference librarian for assistance.

The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques L. Rolland; Carol Sherman
Call Number: 641.03 R749f
The Food Encyclopedia has 8,000 entries, with cross-reference on foods, wines, beverages, cooking methods and techniques, and biographies of prominent people.
A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat
Call Number: Reference 363.809 T734h 2009
This is a social history of humankind's relationship with food from hunter-gatherer days to the present. It tells the story of cuisine in sometimes unexpected ways. A classic in its field.
Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia
Call Number: Reference 641.3 L332 2009
This classic reference was recently updated and completely revised to include chefs such as Thomas Keller and Ferran Adrià, as well as techniques such as sous vide. It also includes more ethnic cuisines.
World Food by Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Call Number: Reference 641.303 S673w
This multicultural and interdisciplinary reference brings a fresh social and cultural perspective to the global history of food, foodstuffs, and cultural exchange from the age of discovery to contemporary times..

Online Databases

Reference databases such as Credo and Gale Virtual Reference Library provide online access to reference sources such as subject encyclopedias. Search these databases for topics in food science and the culinary arts.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online reference library that provides access to a growing selection of reference books.
Online reference library that provides access to a growing selection of reference books. Includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations, and a range of subject-specific titles from art to accountancy and literature to law. Credo Reference generates a network of cross-references that provide an easy-to-follow trail to related information contained anywhere within the library.

Credo Reference Subject Guides
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources.
Gale eBooks is a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.

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