title: Convenience foods. What, why, and when.
abstract: An attempt is made to assess the academic interest in convenience foods in the past decades in order to introduce this special section on historical dimensions of convenience foods, prepared by FOST, a unit that investigates the history and culture of food (up to today). First, the rise of academic interest is trailed since the appearance of the concept in the 1920s and, next, themes in connection to this interest are considered (e.g., time, health, or gender). Then, definitions of convenience foods are tracked since the 1950s, which leads to suggesting a clear focus (linking convenience foods to home cooking of meals and industrially produced foods). The conclusion stresses the changing definition of the concept, as well as the need to gain historical insight in present-day issues related to convenience foods.
authors: Social and Cultural Food Studies (FOST), History Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, BE-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: pscholli@vub.ac.be.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Scholliers
mesh_terms: D003296:Cooking / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D057140:Fast Foods / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D062407:Meals
keywords: Convenience foods; Definitions; History; Home meal cooking; Literature survey