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Why do historians organize history thematically?
Laziness. It's easier to specialise in the history of napkins in 19th-century Charleroi than to study the many factors and processes at work over vast areas and periods and come up with a coherent in-depth analysis of the broader sweep of history. OK, that's unkind, as the mountain of evidence, analysis and interpretation available to today's historian routinely exceeds the ability to digest and assess it, and as the skills needed become ever more technical: for that matter over-general "mega-history" can be a dire affair. But thematic fragmentation threatens the cohesion of history as a discipline: one leading economic historian has complained of the field's takeover by economists at the expense of historians. It's a trend that appears likely to continue.
How has food changed?
You need to pick a time frame. 50, 100 years or back to the hunter gatherer stage. Prior to a hundred years ago or so, pretty much everything had to be made from scratch or produced by yourself. Raise your own vegetables, animals for meat. ................ Food has changed in many ways over the centuries, as well as in recent years. One of the most significant changes in the past few decades has been the shift from food production being centered in or near the home to food being produced by huge corporations at great distances from the point where it is consumed. Most recently, in the U.S., the amount of food cooked and eaten at home has dropped significantly compared to the amount of food cooked and eaten elsewhere (restaurants, fast food.)
