Kansas City : A Food Biography.

ISBN:

9781442232891

Title:

Author:

Broomfield, Andrea L.

Personal Author:

Broomfield, Andrea L.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages)

Series:

Big City Food Biographies Series

Contents:

Intro -- Contents -- Preface. Kansas City: The Nation's Hospitality Crossroads -- Chapter One. "Here Stands a City Built o' Bread and Beef": Kansas City's Natural and Material Resources -- Chapter Two. Prehistoric and Native American Foodways of the Kawsmouth Region -- Chapter Three. The Old World Meets the New -- Chapter Four. Contributing to Kansas City's Greater Good: Immigrants and Their Food Traditions -- Chapter Five. African American Contributions and Kansas City's Southern Traditions -- Chapter Six. Kansas City Markets and Groceries -- Chapter Seven. "Kansas City, Here I Come": Historic Restaurants at America's Crossroads, 1860s-1970s -- Chapter Eight. Kansas City Home Cooks and Homegrown Festivals -- Chapter Nine. We've Grown Accustomed to These Tastes: Kansas City's Signature Dishes -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author.

Local Note:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2023. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

Subject Term:

Food industry and trade - Missouri - Kansas City - History.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view book

Publication Date:

2016

Publication Information:

Lanham, MD :

Rowman & Littlefield Unlimited Model,

2016.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
641.59778411	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ON-DEMAND	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

While some cities owe their existence to lumber or oil, turpentine or steel, Kansas City owes its existence to food. From its earliest days, Kansas City was in the business of provisioning pioneers and traders headed west, and later with provisioning the nation with meat and wheat. Throughout its history, thousands of Kansas Citians have also made their living providing meals and hospitality to travelers passing through on their way elsewhere, be it by way of a steamboat, Conestoga wagon, train, automobile, or airplane. As Kansas City's adopted son, Fred Harvey sagely noted, "Travel follows good food routes," and Kansas City's identity as a food city is largely based on that fact. Kansas City: A Food Biography explores in fascinating detail how a frontier town on the edge of wilderness grew into a major metropolis, one famous for not only great cuisine but for a crossroads hospitality that continues to define it. Kansas City: A Food Biography also explores how politics, race, culture, gender, immigration, and art have forged the city's most iconic dishes, from chili and steak to fried chicken and barbecue. In lively detail, Andrea Broomfield brings the Kansas City food scene to life.

Author Notes

Andrea Broomfield is a culinary historian and an English professor at Johnson County Community College. She is the author of Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History (2007) and writes extensively about the Victorian era.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kansas City, Mo., home to Charlie Parker and the strains of modern jazz, also rests at the culinary crossroads of America, as culinary historian Broomfield observes in this straightforward survey, part of the Big City Food Biography series. The city is located in the fertile Central Plain, where the soil is ideal for cultivating grain and producing fields of grass where cattle can graze. Broomfield's tale of the life of food in the region begins with the earliest contributions of native tribes such as the Kaw, and their cultivation of maize and squash. Prior to the Civil War, Kansas City's food reflected the cuisine of the South, including beaten biscuits, pies, gumbos, fried chicken, and catfish. In the 19th century, a number of immigrant groups helped shape the city's cuisine with Mexican tamales and chilis, German beer, Swiss confections, and Italian minestrone and pastas. Broomfield offers a brief history of many of the markets and groceries that helped establish Kansas City as a center of culinary hospitality, such as the E. Whyte Grocery, Fruit & Wine Company; Wolferman's Grocery; and the City Market. Broomfield's guidebook also includes an overview of Kansas City's signature dishes (with recipes), such as Myron Green's cinnamon rolls and Harvey's Westport Room Chicken Maciel. Readers will enjoy this entertaining, in-depth look at the foods that have made Kansas City famous. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

The latest in the Big City Food Biography series examines the culinary contributions made by the center of the heartland's bread basket, Kansas City. Broomfield's research is meticulous and balanced. She notes that Kansas City straddles a state line historically and culturally and pays equal attention to both sides. This is not a book for the casual cook looking for gastronomic descriptions and recipes. Her prose is engaging and lively, even though not an ingredient, restaurant, cook, or restaurateur detail goes unmentioned. Serious chefs and foodies will appreciate the history behind the Midwest's melting pot of cuisines and the people who made Kansas City's signature dishes burnt ends, KC strip, and green rice casserole the mainstays of hearty Kansas City fare. Of particular interest is the chapter on African American Contributions and Kansas City's Southern Traditions. Readers will be fascinated by the ways music influenced restaurants in Kansas City's jazz age. A worthy addition to all collections serving the serious chef.--Mediatore Stover, Kaite Copyright 2016 Booklist