USA Food Stories in the British Library’s Oral History and Food Industry Literature Collections

This PhD project will draw on the oral history archives at the British Library, which have a focus on food production and the attitudes of food producers – from growers and pickers to managers of food processing facilities – towards their work and the food they produced. It will also draw on the extensive archive of food industry literature, which has material on food production techniques, labour and management, marketing and trend analysis in food consumption. Through in-depth analysis of these two collection areas, the research will focus on the interplay between American food systems and the creation of British culinary culture since 1945.