Research Catalog

Title

American cuisine : and how it got this way / Paul Freedman.

Author

Freedman, Paul, 1949-

Publication

New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, A division of W. W. Norton & Company Independent Publishers Since 1923, [2019]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxvi, 451 pages : illustrations (chiefly color); 25 cm

Summary

• "With an ambitious sweep over two hundred years, Paul Freedman's lavishly illustrated history shows that there actually is an American cuisine. For centuries, skeptical foreigners--and even millions of Americans--have believed there was no such thing as American cuisine. In recent decades, hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza have been thought to define the nation's palate. Not so, says food historian Paul Freedman, who demonstrates that there is an exuberant and diverse, if not always coherent, American cuisine that reflects the history of the nation itself. Combining historical rigor and culinary passion, Freedman underscores three recurrent themes--regionality, standardization, and variety--that shape a completely novel history of the United States. From the colonial period until after the Civil War, there was a patchwork of regional cooking styles that produced local standouts, such as gumbo from southern Louisiana, or clam chowder from New England. Later, this kind of regional identity was manipulated for historical effect, as in Southern cookbooks that mythologized gracious "plantation hospitality," rendering invisible the African Americans who originated much of the region's food. As the industrial revolution produced rapid changes in every sphere of life, the American palate dramatically shifted from local to processed. A new urban class clamored for convenient, modern meals and the freshness of regional cuisine disappeared, replaced by packaged and standardized products--such as canned peas, baloney, sliced white bread, and jarred baby food. By the early twentieth century, the era of homogenized American food was in full swing. Bolstered by nutrition "experts," marketing consultants, and advertising executives, food companies convinced consumers that industrial food tasted fine and, more importantly, was convenient and nutritious. No group was more susceptible to the blandishments of advertisers than women, who were made feel that their husbands might stray if not satisfied with the meals provided at home. On the other hand, men wanted women to be svelte, sporty companions, not kitchen drudges. The solution companies offered was time-saving recipes using modern processed helpers. Men supposedly liked hearty food, while women were portrayed as fond of fussy, "dainty," colorful, but tasteless dishes--tuna salad sandwiches, multicolored Jell-O, or artificial crab toppings. The 1970s saw the zenith of processed-food hegemony, but also the beginning of a food revolution in California. What became known as New American cuisine rejected the blandness of standardized food in favor of the actual taste and pleasure that seasonal, locally grown products provided. The result was a farm-to-table trend that continues to dominate. "A book to be savored" (Stephen Aron), American Cuisine is also a repository of anecdotes that will delight food lovers: how dry cereal was created by William Kellogg for people with digestive and low-energy problems; that chicken Parmesan, the beloved Italian favorite, is actually an American invention; and that Florida Key lime pie goes back only to the 1940s and was based on a recipe developed by Borden's condensed milk. More emphatically, Freedman shows that American cuisine would be nowhere without the constant influx of immigrants, who have popularized everything from tacos to sushi rolls"--
• With an ambitious sweep over two hundred years, Freedman's lavishly illustrated history shows that there actually is an American cuisine: it is an exuberant and diverse, if not always coherent, cuisine that reflects the history of the nation itself. Combining historical rigor and culinary passion, he underscores three recurrent themes-- regionality, standardization, and variety-- that shape a completely novel history of the United States. Freedman shows that American cuisine would be nowhere without the constant influx of immigrants, who have popularized everything from tacos to sushi rolls. -- condensed from jacket

Subjects

• Cookbooks
• Anecdotes
• History
• Cooking, American > History

Genre/Form

• Cookbooks.
• History.
• Anecdotes.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-429) and index.

Contents

Introduction: what is American cuisine? -- Flowering and fading: American regional food -- Culinary nostalgia -- Community cookbooks -- The golden age of food processing, 1880-1970 -- Why Americans welcomed industrial food -- Women and food in the twentieth century --- Have your cake, choose from our fifteen fabulous flavors, and eat it too -- "Ethnic" restaurants -- The magical 1970s -- The food revolution grows up -- Food in the year 2020 and beyond.

Call Number

JFE 20-2788

ISBN

• 9781631494628
• 1631494627

LCCN

• 2019029642
• 40029499015

OCLC

1084415932

Author

Freedman, Paul, 1949- author.

Title

American cuisine : and how it got this way / Paul Freedman.

Publisher

New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, A division of W. W. Norton & Company Independent Publishers Since 1923, [2019]

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-429) and index.

Local Note

AUTH: YALE UNIVERSITY.

Other Standard Identifier

40029499015

Research Call Number

JFE 20-2788