Foodways research has been an expanding and popular branch of archaeological study for the past two decades, spawning books, texts, and edited volumes that address various aspects of the field. Foodways Archaeology, by Tanya M. Peres, distinguishes itself by providing a short, succinct introduction and guide to foodways research and the methods that can be used to study food, diet, and cuisine in archaeological contexts.
Peres draws readers in with a contemporary example of the connection between food, tradition, and identity and then sets the tone of the book with clear, concise definitions of food, diet, subsistence strategy, cuisine, and foodways. A table showing the types of evidence that can be used to investigate each of these topics is an especially useful tool for building research projects around these subjects.
The rest of the book is divided into chapters covering each type of evidence, best practices for collecting and analyzing the evidence, and case studies illustrating what each can tell us about the past. Chapters 2 and 3 cover, in great detail, both zooarchaeology and paleoethnobotany, which are the foundations of foodways studies in archaeology. Chemical analyses, particularly the organic residue and stable isotope analyses that are mainstays in contemporary foodways studies in archaeology, are described in chapter 5.
Peres also goes beyond the basics and covers a variety of approaches that are less clearly or less often emphasized in foodways studies. Chapter 4 provides an excellent discussion of the use of bioarchaeology to investigate diet. Chapter 6 discusses the role of ceramic analysis in studying foodways. Here, Peres covers basic ceramic analysis, such as stylistic classification. Yet, given that the most useful analytical link between foodways and pottery is functional analysis, which explores the role of pottery in storing, cooking, and serving food, more details about how cooking vessels can reveal cooking styles and recipes would have improved this otherwise informative chapter.
The final two chapters discuss documentary analysis of foodways (chapter 7) and cooking tools and space (chapter 8): these are particularly useful for analyzing contexts with written records or those in the modern/industrial era. In chapter 7, Peres references not only historic sources but also topics like big data, digital humanities, and the use of text mining and databases for foodways research, wisely moving the discussion into the twenty-first century and the future. The discussion of tools and space focuses on metal cookware and uses examples of features and cooking spaces at haciendas in colonial La Florida, providing useful applications for historic contexts.
This volume is an excellent reference for undergraduate-level courses about foodways, and it would be the perfect guide for graduate students or practicing archaeologists curious to pivot into foodways studies. Her inclusion of evidence beyond traditional macroscopic, microscopic, and chemical plant and animal remains is refreshing, and the broad-ranging discussion provides a complete compendium of methods by which we can explore foodways and diet. However, one result of having an array of topics is that the level of detail provided for each approach varies based on her expertise. For example, the discussion of stable isotope analysis of bone tissue includes a great amount of detail, whereas organic residue analysis is covered in only three paragraphs. However, Peres always provides references for topics and methods with which she is less familiar, directing readers to experts in these areas for more detailed accounts.
Peres’s inclusion of case studies for each methodological approach is useful for illustrating the applications and interpretations of foodways studies. Most revolve around the themes of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion, agency, and acculturation, as well as quotidian versus ceremonial foods, which can be more difficult to explore in the archaeology of hunter-gatherer societies or contexts without written records. All the case studies are also from Spanish colonial La Florida, which limits the quality of examples for some approaches. For example, the case study for bioarchaeology is about demography and is not directly connected to foodways or diet; the author also admits that there are few examples of chemical analyses of either bone or pottery residues in La Florida, so no examples are provided. Case studies drawn from other adjacent regions or other periods in Florida could have better demonstrated the utility of these methods.
Ultimately, this is a worthwhile reference for professional archaeologists and a great text for the classroom. The clear definitions, descriptions, and illustrations of ideas, methods, and interpretations in the realm of foodways studies make it an indispensable volume in the library of anyone with an interest in food and its role in the past.
