Geographic Data Sources for the Study of Regional Foods in the United States

Geographers emphasize place when they study foodways, especially why people in one region eat differently from those in another. Quantitative data that can be mapped are useful to explore these issues, but, unfortunately, such information is scarce for large-scale projects. We know a lot about American food production through the censuses of agriculture, but little about who eats those products. Much of the existing data for food consumption is the result of proprietary marketing research done for food companies and is, therefore, inaccessible; other surveys involve sample sizes too small to determine regional patterns. More recently, geographers have begun to explore symbolic and other more qualitative issues related to food, place, and culture. They also have turned their attention from national to more local studies such as comparing restaurant menus across a hypothesized regional boundary or the persistence of ethnic dishes in a multicultural community. Useful data sources related to regional and ethnic food consumption include the Internet, telephone books, surveys and interviewing, cookbooks, promotional literature intended for tourists, and popular magazines.