How America eats : a social history of U.S. food and culture / Jennifer Jensen Wallach.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wallach, Jennifer Jensen, 1974- author.

Series:

American ways series

The American ways series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Food habits--United States.

Food habits.

Food preferences--United States.

Food preferences.

United States--Social life and customs.

United States.

Manners and customs.

Physical Description:

xv, 241 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Social history of U.S. food and culture

Place of Publication:

Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., [2013]

Summary:

This work, written by a food and social historian sheds a new and interesting light on American history by way of the dinner table. It is, at once, a study of America's diverse culinary history and a look at the country's unique and unprecedented journey to the present day. While undeniably a "melting pot" of different cultures and cuisines, America's food habits have been shaped as much by technological innovations and industrial progress as by the intermingling and mixture of ethnic cultures. By studying what Americans have been eating since the colonial era, we are further enlightened to the conflicting ways in which Americans have chosen to define themselves, their culture, their beliefs, and the changes those definitions have undergone over time. Understanding the American diet is the first step toward grasping the larger truths, the complex American narratives that have long been swept under the table, and the evolving answers to the question: What does it mean to be American?

Contents:

The cuisine of contact

Food and the founding

Foodways in an era of expansion and immigration

Technology and taste

Gender and the American appetite

The pious or patriotic stomach

Food habits and racial thinking

The politics of food.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

HSP Historic Culinary Arts Collection.

ISBN:

9781442208742

1442208740

9781442208759

1442208759

OCLC:

794361344