My new favorite online resource is the food timeline. It’s been around for a while, but only a recent discovery for me. Created by Reference Librarian Lynne Olver, this compendium of food history is organized by chronological time from the beginning (water) to 2004 (Kraft convenience foods). Some of the notable links relate to the beginnings of agriculture, the domestication of chicken or cattle, and the consumption of seafood. Also in the earlier sections are descriptions of grains, oils, wine, spices and staples of the ancient world. Most intriguing are examinations food refracted through cultural and political history. The following are just four examples:

1. Hattie Burr compiled a Women’s Suffrage cookbook in 1886, which promoted suffrage and which included recipes by preeminent professionals, educators, writers, and physicians:

   [Mrs. Burr] further tells us that, "A book with so unique and notable a list of contributors, vouched for by such undoubted authority, has never before been given to the public." And so, the famous names and their recipes are to be found: Emma Ewing's Iowa Brown Bread, Mary Livermore's Graham Gems, and household hints by Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone, and Frances Willard. (Feeding America, 16 December 2005)

2. The Royal Baking Powder Company wrote 55 Ways to Save Eggs to “promote economy in home baking without sacrificing appetizing quality and flavor.” This text, now in the Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library was written during World War I in 1917. This research collection has many food history books of note, including Modern Ways With Ancient Food by Hecker H-O Company, Inc. in 1929.
3. American consumers could consume Space Food Sticks, just like the astronauts, during the height of the Space Race in 1968. Pillsbury sought to capitalize on “moon fever” by creating what was essentially an energy bar, with the consistency of a putty. Explorers on the Apollo moon missions used this product, which was located in the space helmet as emergency food. It came in six flavors: caramel, chocolate, malt, mint, orange and peanut butter (Old Time Candy).
4. Two “Watergate” cookbooks appeared in 1973.The entry includes a description of Watergate salad and Watergate cake with coverup icing (Rogers Cadenhead, 15 March 2000).