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Summary
Summary
In this groundbreaking anthology, celebrated food writer Molly O'Neill gathers the very best from over 250 years of American culinary history. This literary feast includes classic accounts of iconic American foods: Henry David Thoreau on the delights of watermelon; Herman Melville, with a mouth-watering chapter on clam chowder; H. L. Mencken on the hot dog; M. F. K. Fisher in praise of the oyster; Ralph Ellison on the irresistible appeal of baked yam; William Styron on Southern fried chicken. American writers abroad, like A. J. Liebling, Waverly Root, and Craig Claiborne, describe the revelations they found in foreign restaurants; travellers to America, including the legendary French gourmet J. A. Brillat-Savarin, discover such native delicacies as turkey, Virginia barbecue, and pumpkin pie. Great chefs and noted critics discuss their culinary philosophies and offer advice on the finer points of technique; home cooks recount disasters and triumphs. A host of eminent American writers, from Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Walt Whitman to Thomas Wolfe, Willa Cather, and Langston Hughes, add their distinctive viewpoints to the mix.
American Food Writing celebrates the astonishing variety of American foodways, with accounts from almost every corner of the country and a host of ethnic traditions: Dutch, Cuban, French, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, Irish, Indian, Scandinavian, Native American, African, English, Japanese, and Mexican. A surprising range of subjects and perspectives emerge, as writers address such topics as fast food, hunger, dieting, and the relationship between food and sex. James Villas offers a behind-the-scenes look at gourmet dining through a waiter's eyes; Anthony Bourdain recalls his days at the Culinary Institute of America; Julia Child remembers the humble beginnings of her much-loved television series; Nora Ephron chronicles internecine warfare among members of the "food establishment"; Michael Pollan explores what the label "organic" really means.
Throughout the anthology are more than fifty classic recipes, selected after extensive research from cookbooks both vintage and modern, and certain to instruct, delight, and inspire home chefs.
Author Notes
Molly O'Neill , editor, was food columnist for The New York Times for a decade and host of the PBS series Great Food . Her work has appeared in many national magazines, and she is the author of three cookbooks, including the award-winning New York Cookbook . Her most recent book is Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball .
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This exhaustive collection of essays, anecdotes, and recipes spans three centuries of American food writing, from Meriwether Lewis?s account of killing "two bucks and two buffaloe" during his famous trek across the continent, to Michael Pollan?s up-to-the-minute account of the politics of organic food. In between are countless gems: Alice B. Toklas?s baroque recipe for lobster, Richard Olney?s meditation on pate and Edna Lewis?s poignant description of killing hogs on her family farm. Ably organized and edited by the former host of the PBS series Great Food, this collection features numerous accounts of foodways long since vanished in this country; take, for instance, Charlie Ranhofer?s thorough analysis of the thirteen-course society dinner, complete with "removes or solid joints," "iced punch or sherbet," and "hot sweet entremets"; or Maria Sermolino?s memories of the Italian meals served at her father?s Greenwich Village restaurant back when spaghetti was still a novelty. Famous food writers are well represented here (James Beard and Calvin Trillin, M.F.K. Fisher and James Villas), but perhaps even more rewarding are the wonderful but lesser-known players on the American food scene; either Elizabeth Robins Pennell?s discussion of the spring chicken or Eugene Walter?s tale of gumbo alone would make this volume a treasure. With so many wonderful ingredients, this rich, delectable treat is a must-have for American foodies. (May) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Booklist Review
In this comprehensive anthology from the Library of America, veteran food journalist O'Neill brings together some of the most significant short food writing from across the whole spectrum of American culinary history. From the eighteenth century, Joel Barlow offers a poem celebrating a breakfast specialty. A brief account of cooking at the outset of the nineteenth century comes from Henry Adams' renowned history. James Beard, Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, and other contemporary icons record the great American food revolution of recent decades. Excerpts and articles from other writers bring the anthology up to date with concerns about food origins and sound nutrition. Good food writing being an effective tonic to arouse one's appetite, O'Neill has peppered the text with historical and modern recipes beyond those that appear within the texts themselves. A valuable subject index expedites locating topics efficiently within this very diverse set of readings.--Knoblauch, Mark Copyright 2007 Booklist
Table of Contents
from Travels into North America | p. 1 |
Ice Cream | p. 5 |
from The Hasty-Pudding | p. 6 |
Johny Cake, or Hoe Cake | p. 12 |
from The Journals of Lewis & Clark | p. 13 |
Letters to His Daughter, 1819-32 | p. 15 |
A Virginia Barbecue | p. 21 |
Exploit of the Professor | p. 24 |
To Make a Chowder | p. 29 |
from A Diary in America | p. 30 |
Potted Lobster | p. 34 |
This Day's Food | p. 35 |
Above All Other Birds | p. 37 |
To Dress Macaroni a la Sauce Blanche | p. 41 |
The Eating-Houses | p. 42 |
To Make Corn Bread | p. 47 |
Chowder | p. 48 |
Peach Leather | p. 52 |
Bread | p. 53 |
Watermelons | p. 56 |
Irish Potato Pudding | p. 60 |
from My Bondage and My Freedom | p. 61 |
The Lay of the One Fish-Ball | p. 66 |
Tomato Catsup | p. 68 |
Apple-Pie | p. 69 |
A Michigan Receipt for Making Shortcake in Camp | p. 72 |
A Great Treat of Ice Cream | p. 73 |
Hayes Cake and Tilden Cake | p. 75 |
from Cookery | p. 76 |
Mother's Rice Pudding | p. 83 |
from The Philosophy of Frying | p. 84 |
Meat-Flavoring | p. 86 |
The Tyranny of Pie | p. 87 |
Black Cake | p. 89 |
from Zuni Breadstuff | p. 91 |
Chicken Croquettes | p. 95 |
My Sugar-Making Days | p. 96 |
Chicken Chartreuse | p. 98 |
Success in Entertaining | p. 99 |
Roman Punch No. 1 and No. 2 | p. 104 |
from History of the United States | p. 105 |
Bran Jelly | p. 108 |
from The Epicurean | p. 109 |
Lobster a la Newberg or Delmonico | p. 113 |
Spring Chicken | p. 114 |
Eggs a la Goldenrod | p. 118 |
Bill of Fare on the Plains | p. 119 |
from I Go A-Marketing | p. 123 |
Hamburg Steak | p. 126 |
Calas | p. 127 |
Cranberry Sauce | p. 130 |
Possum | p. 132 |
Matzos Pudding | p. 134 |
from The Great Pancake Record | p. 135 |
Old-Fashioned Hickory Nut Cake | p. 143 |
from Maymeys from Cuba | p. 144 |
Perfection Salad | p. 152 |
from The Promised Land | p. 153 |
Baked Bananas, Porto Rican Fashion | p. 156 |
Around Little Italy | p. 157 |
from My Antonia | p. 165 |
Bucks County Apple Butter | p. 170 |
The Home of the Crab | p. 171 |
Hot Dogs | p. 172 |
Puree of Peanuts Number Two (Extra Fine) | p. 176 |
Eating American | p. 177 |
Cape Cod Turkey (Stuffed Codfish) | p. 181 |
from Of Time and the River | p. 182 |
Nut Loaf | p. 186 |
from American Food and American Houses | p. 187 |
Chop Suey | p. 193 |
Breakfast | p. 193 |
from Down-East Ambrosia | p. 196 |
Planked Porterhouse Steak | p. 204 |
Mr. Barbee's Terrapin | p. 205 |
from America Eats | p. 215 |
A Lusty Bit of Nourishment | p. 220 |
Define This Word | p. 234 |
from Cross Creek Cookery | p. 243 |
from Clementine in the Kitchen | p. 250 |
Avocado, or the Future of Eating | p. 263 |
That Infernal Machine, the Pressure Cooker | p. 266 |
Fried Scallion Cake | p. 269 |
The Strange Case of Mr. Palliser's Palate | p. 270 |
from Fifth Chinese Daughter | p. 272 |
from A Walker in the City | p. 279 |
from Papa's Table d'Hote | p. 383 |
Almond Cake or Torte | p. 290 |
from Invisible Man | p. 292 |
Gazpacho | p. 297 |
Food in the United States in 1934 and 1935 | p. 298 |
Pineapple Pie | p. 310 |
Sukiyaki on the Kona Coast | p. 311 |
from A Flower for My Mother | p. 318 |
from Good Cooksmanship, or How to Talk a Good Fight | p. 321 |
Toward Fried Chicken | p. 326 |
Southern Fried Chicken (with Giblet Gravy) | p. 330 |
Pancakes | p. 335 |
from The Modest Threshold | p. 337 |
How to Cook a Carp | p. 343 |
Dinner at the Pavillon | p. 347 |
The Gumbo Cult | p. 354 |
Baked Beans | p. 364 |
from Delights and Prejudices | p. 365 |
Beef Stroganoff | p. 375 |
from Soul Food | p. 376 |
Vichyssoise | p. 380 |
Soul Food | p. 384 |
Tunnel of Fudge Cake | p. 387 |
from Oranges | p. 389 |
How To Make Stew in the Pinacate Desert: Recipe for Locke & Drum | p. 396 |
About the Television Series | p. 398 |
Coq au Vin | p. 404 |
The Food Establisbment: Life In the Land of the Rising Souffle (Or Is It the Rising Meringue?) | p. 408 |
Lessons in Humility and Chutzpah | p. 422 |
Zucchini Quiche | p. 428 |
The Techniques of the Kitchen-The Making of a Cook | p. 430 |
Moong Dal | p. 438 |
from Simple French Food | p. 440 |
Chicken Tagine with Chick-peas | p. 452 |
The Traveling Man's Burden | p. 456 |
Risotto Alla Parmigiana | p. 463 |
Just a Quiet Dinner for Two in Paris: 31 Dishes, Nine Wines, a $4,000 Check | p. 465 |
Francs and Beans | p. 472 |
from Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonalds | p. 475 |
Morning-After-Hog-Butchering Breakfast | p. 479 |
An Original Old-Fashioned Yankee Clambake | p. 487 |
The Anthropology of Table Manners from Geophagy Onward | p. 495 |
Blessed Are We Who Serve | p. 503 |
Chicken Marbella | p. 515 |
from Eating Together: Recipes & Recollections | p. 517 |
Gillette's | p. 522 |
Kitchen Horrors | p. 530 |
from Meatless Days | p. 535 |
from Monifold Destiny | p. 545 |
The Pleasures of Eating | p. 551 |
The Farm-Restaurant Connection | p. 559 |
Where Is the Grease of Yesteryear? | p. 569 |
Philadelphia Pepperpot Soup | p. 572 |
Primal Bread | p. 576 |
Mama Menudo | p. 586 |
Enough Jam for a Lifetime | p. 589 |
Yellowfin Tuna Burgers With Ginger-Mustard Glaze | p. 594 |
Do Women Like to Cook? | p. 597 |
from Recipe of Memory | p. 605 |
The Toll House Cookie | p. 610 |
Boiled Chicken Feet and Hundred-Year-Old Eggs: Poor Chinese Feasting | p. 615 |
Creole Gumbo | p. 622 |
Adultery | p. 626 |
from My Kitchen Wars | p. 642 |
Dinner Rites | p. 650 |
Steamed Pork Loaf with Salted Duck Eggs | p. 655 |
The Breath of a Wok | p. 657 |
from Kitchen Confidential | p. 662 |
Today's Special | p. 669 |
Indian Takeout | p. 673 |
Hersheyettes | p. 677 |
from Fast Food Nation | p. 683 |
Cheese: Cindy and David Major, Vermont | p. 694 |
from Coming Home to Eat | p. 699 |
Celebrations of Thanksgiving: Cuban Seasonings | p. 706 |
Lady Bird Johnson's Pedernales Chili | p. 711 |
from Looking for Umami | p. 712 |
My Organic Industrial Meal | p. 717 |
Sources and Acknowledgments | p. 729 |
Index | p. 743 |