Robert Dirks

Robert Dirks grew up in suburban Milwaukee. After earning a Ph.D. in anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, he joined the faculty at Illinois State University. He retired from there as Emeritus Professor in 2003.

Over the course of his career, Professor Dirks conducted research on various topics, including both food habits and nutrition worldwide. His publications include papers in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Current Anthropology, American Anthropologist, Cross-Cultural Research, World Cultures, Journal of Nutrition, and Annual Review of Nutrition. His previous book, Come & Get It! McDonaldization and the Disappearance of Local Food from a Central Illinois Community, traced a changing American food culture from frontier days to the beginning of the twenty-first century. His current book, Food in the Gilded Age surveys eating habits toward the end of the 19th century through the investigations of America’s earliest nutritionists.