Putting Meat on the American Table


Book Description

How did meat become such a popular food among Americans? And why did the popularity of some types of meat increase or decrease? Putting Meat on the American Table explains how America became a meat-eating nation - from the colonial period to the present. It examines the relationships between consumer preference and meat processing - looking closely at the production of beef, pork, chicken, and hot dogs. Roger Horowitz argues that a series of new technologies have transformed American meat - sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. He draws on detailed consumption surveys that shed new light on America's eating preferences - especially differences associated with income, rural versus urban areas, and race and ethnicity. Engagingly written, richly illustrated, and abundant with first-hand accounts and quotes from period sources, Putting Meat on the American Table will captivate general readers and interest all students of the history of food, technology, business, and American culture.




The Italian American Table


Book Description

Best Food Book of 2014 by The Atlantic Looking at the historic Italian American community of East Harlem in the 1920s and 30s, Simone Cinotto recreates the bustling world of Italian life in New York City and demonstrates how food was at the center of the lives of immigrants and their children. From generational conflicts resolved around the family table to a vibrant food-based economy of ethnic producers, importers, and restaurateurs, food was essential to the creation of an Italian American identity. Italian American foods offered not only sustenance but also powerful narratives of community and difference, tradition and innovation as immigrants made their way through a city divided by class conflict, ethnic hostility, and racialized inequalities. Drawing on a vast array of resources including fascinating, rarely explored primary documents and fresh approaches in the study of consumer culture, Cinotto argues that Italian immigrants created a distinctive culture of food as a symbolic response to the needs of immigrant life, from the struggle for personal and group identity to the pursuit of social and economic power. Adding a transnational dimension to the study of Italian American foodways, Cinotto recasts Italian American food culture as an American "invention" resonant with traces of tradition.




My Modern American Table


Book Description

The winner of MasterChef Season seven shares sixty-five recipes giving his take on modern American cuisine with international influences. Viewers fell in love with Shaun O’Neale on Season seven of MasterChef. In his debut cookbook, O’Neale presents his take on modern American cuisine with international influences. It’s experimental, it’s edgy, and it’s full of big flavors. This book is not your average home cook’s cookbook. O’Neale encourages you to push your own personal cooking boundaries and teaches you that home-cooked food can be elevated to fine-dining quality with ease. You will be inspired to try new recipes, new techniques, and new flavors, and you will learn that beautiful, high-end plating and presentation is never too complicated. My Modern American Table offers sixty-five mouthwatering recipes, including Bourbon Braised Short Rib Ravioli; Spicy Miso Black Cod with Fresh Herb Salad; Chicken Saltimbocca Sandwich; Charred Balsamic Brussels Sprouts; Crazy Cheese Truffle Mac; Candied Bacon Cheesecake; and more. The book also shares stories from the seventh season of MasterChef and O’Neale’s path to victory, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the exciting show. With O’Neale as your guide, this is the starting point in your own culinary journey, because the secrets in these pages won over the judges and earned O’Neale the title of Master Chef! With a foreword by Gordon Ramsey




Revolution at the Table


Book Description

In this wide-ranging and entertaining study Harvey Levenstein tells of the remarkable transformation in how Americans ate that took place from 1880 to 1930.




A Place at the Table


Book Description

Examines the efforts of many different people in American history to secure equal treatment in such areas as religion, voting rights, education, housing, and employment.




The American Way of Eating


Book Description

A journalist traces her 2009 immersion into the national food system to explore how working-class Americans can afford to eat as they should, describing how she worked as a farm laborer, Wal-Mart grocery clerk, and Applebee's expediter while living within the means of each job.




Around the American Table


Book Description

Takes you back in time to visit the kitchens and festive celebrations of America's rich culinary heritage. Drawing on over 350 years of American cooking traditions, these wonderful recipes reflect our nation's broad cultural and regional diversity. The recipes have been carefully adapted for modern cooking methods -- you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen. An invaluable source for planning memorable holiday meals, for introducing your family to America's unique cooking heritage, and for rediscovering dishes and food traditions that were once integral to American lives. Historical photos and illustrations.




The Way We Ate


Book Description

From the food photographers and creators of the popular blog The Way We Ate comes a lavishly illustrated journey through the rich culinary tradition of the last American century, with 100 recipes from the nation's top chefs and food personalities. Take a trip back in time through the rich culinary tradition of the last American century with more than 100 of the nation’s top chefs and food personalities. The Way We Ate captures the twentieth century through the food we’ve shared and prepared. Noah Fecks and Paul Wagtouicz (creators of the hugely popular blog The Way We Ate) are your guides to a dazzling display of culinary impressionism: For each year from 1901 to 2000, they invite a well-known chef or food connoisseur to translate the essence or idea of a historical event into a beautifully realized dish or cocktail. The result is an eclectic array of modern takes and memorable classics, featuring original recipes conjured by culinary notables, including: Daniel Boulud, Jacques Pépin, Marc Forgione, José Andrés, Ruth Reichl, Marcus Samuelsson, Michael White, Andrew Carmellini, Anita Lo, Gael Greene, Michael Lomonaco, Melissa Clark, Justin Warner, Michael Laiskonis, Sara Jenkins, Shanna Pacifico, Jeremiah Tower, and Ashley Christensen An innovative work of history and a cookbook like no other, The Way We Ate is the story of a nation’s cravings—and how they continue to influence the way we cook, eat, and talk about food today.




The Wrong End of the Table


Book Description

"[A] rare voice that is both relatable and unafraid to examine the complexities of her American identity.” —Reza Aslan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth An Immigrant Love-Hate Story of What it Means to Be American You know that feeling of being at the wrong end of the table? Like you’re at a party but all the good stuff is happening out of earshot (#FOMO)? That’s life—especially for an immigrant. What happens when a shy, awkward Arab girl with a weird name and an unfortunate propensity toward facial hair is uprooted from her comfortable (albeit fascist-regimed) homeland of Iraq and thrust into the cold, alien town of Columbus, Ohio—with its Egg McMuffins, Barbie dolls, and kids playing doctor everywhere you turned? This is Ayser Salman’s story. First comes Emigration, then Naturalization, and finally Assimilation—trying to fit in among her blonde-haired, blue-eyed counterparts, and always feeling left out. On her journey to Americanhood, Ayser sees more naked butts at pre-kindergarten daycare that she would like, breaks one of her parents’ rules (“Thou shalt not participate as an actor in the school musical where a male cast member rests his head in thy lap”), and other things good Muslim Arab girls are not supposed to do. And, after the 9/11 attacks, she experiences the isolation of being a Muslim in her own country. It takes hours of therapy, fifty-five rounds of electrolysis, and some ill-advised romantic dalliances for Ayser to grow into a modern Arab American woman who embraces her cultural differences. Part memoir and part how-not-to guide, The Wrong End of the Table is everything you wanted to know about Arabs but were afraid to ask, with chapters such as “Tattoos and Other National Security Risks,” “You Can’t Blame Everything on Your Period; Sometimes You’re Going to Be a Crazy Bitch: and Other Advice from Mom,” and even an open letter to Trump. This is the story of every American outsider on a path to find themselves in a country of beautiful diversity.




Santa Barbara Chef's Table


Book Description

Celebrating Santa Barbara's best restaurants and eateries with recipes and photograph, Santa Barbara Chef's Table profiles signature “at home” recipes from 40 legendary dining establishments. A keepsake cookbook for tourists and locals alike, the book is a celebration of Santa Barbara's farm-to-table way of life.