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Food

  • A close-up photograph of a loaf of bread, a basket of fruit and a wedge of cheese
    Maggie Diaz, Fruit, wine, bread and cheese, still life (detail), H2016.55/8 
  • A black and white photograph of a family including a man, a woman and two children, gathered around a dinner table
    Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, Dinner time. Mr. and Mrs. H. Anderson with daughters Valma and Gay, H99.201/2240
  • A coloured drawing of several bunches of red grapes, green vine leaves and a red apple
    Caroline Peebles, Still life with fruit, H2010.77/21

The Library's rich collections illustrate the role food has played in Victoria’s history.

Encompassing material relating to cooking, cookbooks, restaurants, nutrition, agriculture, provisioning and food studies, this collection will help you to explore the extensive and varied history of food in Australia. Some areas of research interest include:

  • The food of Indigenous peoples prior to European colonisation
  • Food and sustance during the first hundred years of immigrated settlement (1788-1888)
  • Early cookbooks of Australia
  • Food culture during the Depression, the federation of States and war
  • The effects of multiculturalism on food culture in Australia.

If you're interested in food heritage, the history of diet and nutrition or adding some new recipes to your repertoire, the Library's food collections are a great resource.

Location at the Library

Find Food via our onsite map

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