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Food Eating History and Now by Themes

2018-10-05

How America Eats Commute reading, finished it today.

This book is organized by themes: racial/ethnic food, patriotic eating, ethical eating, etc.

A survey like this is bound to be thin and watery, leaving you wanting more - it's endemic to the genre, like a bisque. The author editorializes heavily in parts and focuses on particular aspects without discussing why those facets deserve to be brought into focus, which does a disservice to the reader, I think.

All that said, the chapter on colonial food was extremely interesting, as well as the next, the chapter on initial immigration. Much of the material covered in the 1870-1970 years has been covered in the other books I've read.