Research Catalog

Food on the rails : the golden era of railroad dining

Title
Food on the rails : the golden era of railroad dining / Jeri Quinzio.
Author
Quinzio, Jeri.
Publication
Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2014]

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFE 16-13258Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xviii, 175 pages : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
In roughly one hundred years - from the 1870s to the 1970s - dining on trains began, soared to great heights, and then fell to earth. The founders of the first railroad companies cared more about hauling freight than feeding passengers. The only food available on trains in the mid-nineteenth century was whatever passengers brought aboard in their lunch baskets or managed to pick up at a brief station stop. It was hardly fine dining. Seeing the business possibilities in offering long-distance passengers comforts such as beds, toilets, and meals, George Pullman and other pioneering railroaders like Georges Nagelmackers of Orient Express fame, transformed rail travel. Fine dining and wines became the norm for elite railroad travelers by the turn of the twentieth century. The foods served on railroads - from consommé to turbot to soufflé, always accompanied by champagne - equaled that of the finest restaurants, hotels, and steamships. After World War II, as airline travel and automobiles became the preferred modes of travel, elegance gave way to economy. Canned and frozen foods, self-service, and quick meals and snacks became the norm. By the 1970s, the golden era of railroad dining had come grinding to a halt. Food on the Rails traces the rise and fall of food on the rails from its rocky start to its glory days to its sad demise. Looking at the foods, the service, the rail station restaurants, the menus, they dining accommodations and more, Jeri Quinzio brings to life the history of cuisine and dining in railroad cars from the early days through today.
Series Statement
  • Food on the go series
  • Rowman & Littlefield studies in food and gastronomy
Uniform Title
  • Food on the go series.
  • Studies in food and gastronomy
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Dining before the dining car -- The dining car debuts -- Fine dining on European railroads -- Transporting restaurants -- Streamlined dining -- The golden, and not so golden, era -- Endings and beginnings -- Take the train.
Call Number
JFE 16-13258
ISBN
  • 9781442227323
  • 144222732X
LCCN
2014010035
OCLC
875644676
Author
Quinzio, Jeri.
Title
Food on the rails : the golden era of railroad dining / Jeri Quinzio.
Publisher
Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2014]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
Food on the go series
Rowman & Littlefield studies in food and gastronomy
Food on the go series.
Studies in food and gastronomy
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Local Note
INCL. B&W ILLUS.
Research Call Number
JFE 16-13258
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