Everyone knows the stereotype of historians…they are dusty old men with patches on the elbows of their jackets who smell faintly of book mildew and always squint at something tiny scribbled in the margin of an old book. Let’s be honest; historian is not one of the most attractive career options in the world. Whichever type of story you choose, be it military history, government history, or that popular “world history,” there just isn’t much glamour. The story of the food, however, is a completely different cauldron of (poached) fish.

The most common title given to a practitioner of food history is culinary anthropologist. This is a fascinating field, in which the world’s cuisines are researched and interrelated across a wide spectrum. One of the most famous faces in this field is Deb Duchon, whose face will be familiar to viewers of the hit Food Network series “Good Eats” with Alton Brown. Deb is the go-to woman for all things food history for the show, and she is frequently seen on camera.

Culinary anthropology will also take you all over the world. Consider the humble flatbread, a food found in almost every culture around the world. In South America, it is the tortilla. In Europe it is the crepe, and in America the most frequent thing is that it takes the form of a pancake, although our culture is so homogenized that all the others take the same role.

Basically, it is a plain, unleavened or lightly leavened bread that can be used as a food on its own or wrapped around other foods to make them portable. In the process of researching the history of this food, a culinary anthropologist from a Texas university traveled the world, appearing on cooking shows and local interest shows from Bangkok to Dublin.

However, the history of food is more than just culinary anthropology. Any major history project needs someone who can serve as the authoritative voice on what the people ate or the culture involved, and will always find a job there. The possibilities for a food historian are truly limitless.