Author at the Library: "Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food," with Jon Krampner, author of "The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and the Golden Age of Television" and "Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley."

With the possible exception of apple pie, no American food is more iconic than peanut butter. The author will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about peanut butter but couldn't ask about because it was stuck to the roof of your mouth.

This illustrated lecture is a popular account of one of America's most beloved foods (consumed by more than seventy-five percent of the population).  The entertaining history of peanut butter's development and integration into the American diet is filled with anecdotes and facts culled from unusual and engaging sources.  While the book is a mix of interviews, research, travels in the peanut-growing regions of the South, personal histories and recipes, the author focuses on the manufacture of the food from the 1890s to the present, and covers its cultural, nutritional, and even molecular evolution.