The Cookbook Shelves project is a digital library that documents the history of cookbooks through the ages. It is a collaborative effort between the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Pennsylvania to digitize, make accessible, and preserve the recipes and stories contained in cookbooks.
The project’s main goal is to make it easier for scholars, researchers, and other interested individuals to study the history of food in a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary manner. To achieve this, the Cookbook Shelves project focuses on three main areas: digitization of cookbooks, development of data tools, and scholarly research.
The digitization aspect of the project involves converting cookbooks from various eras and cultures into digital formats that can be easily accessed, searched, and analyzed. The project team has digitized thousands of cookbooks, including those from the ancient world, medieval Europe, colonial America, and the modern era. They have also documented recipes and other food-related information found in manuscripts, newspapers, and other primary sources from these eras.
The digitization process involves several steps, including scanning, image enhancement, OCR (optical character recognition), and metadata creation. The resulting digital cookbooks are stored in a repository that users can search and access online. The digitized cookbooks are also used to build data tools that enable users to compare and analyze recipes across different cultures and time periods.
The development of data tools is the second area of focus for the Cookbook Shelves project. The project team uses the digitized cookbooks and associated metadata to build data tools that help users analyze and compare food cultures across different time periods and geographical regions. These tools include databases of ingredients, cooking techniques, and meal patterns, as well as visualization tools that help users visualize food trends over time.
The third main area of focus for the Cookbook Shelves project is scholarly research. The project team collaborates with scholars from a variety of disciplines, including history, anthropology, and sociology, to conduct research that sheds light on the history of food and cooking. The project team has published several scholarly articles and books on topics such as ancient Egyptian cuisine, colonial American cooking, and the history of recipe sharing.
Overall, the Cookbook Shelves project is an ambitious effort to preserve and make accessible the history of cooking and food cultures. It is a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in the history of food and cooking. By digitizing cookbooks and building data tools, the project is facilitating new research and insights into the role of food in human culture over time.
Posted by greg_guarino on 2014-11-16 07:23:35