Sugar, pork, beer, corn, cider, scrapple, and hoppin' John all became staples in the diet of colonial America. The ways Americans cultivated and prepared food and the values they attributed to it played an important role in shaping the identity of the newborn nation. In "A Revolution in Eating," James E. McWilliams presents a colorful and spirited tour of culinary attitudes, tastes, and techniques throughout colonial America.

Confronted by strange new animals, plants, and landscapes, settlers in the colonies and West Indies found new ways to produce food. Integrating their British and European tastes with the demands and bounty of the rugged American environment, early Americans developed a range of regional cuisines. From the kitchen tables of typical Puritan families to Iroquois longhouses in the backcountry and slave kitchens on southern plantations, McWilliams portrays the grand variety and inventiveness that characterized colonial cuisine. As colonial America grew, so did its palate, as interactions among European settlers, Native Americans, and African slaves created new dishes and attitudes about food. McWilliams considers how Indian corn, once thought by the colonists as "fit for swine," became a fixture in the colonial diet. He also examines the ways in which African slaves influenced West Indian and American southern cuisine.

While a mania for all things British was a unifying feature of eighteenth-century cuisine, the colonies discovered a national beverage in domestically brewed beer, which came to symbolize solidarity and loyalty to the patriotic cause in the Revolutionary era. The beer and alcohol industry also instigated unprecedented trade among the colonies and further integrated colonial habits and tastes. Victory in the American Revolution initiated a "culinary declaration of independence," prompting the antimonarchical habits of simplicity, frugality, and frontier ruggedness to define American cuisine. McWilliams demonstrates that this was a shift not so much in new ingredients or cooking methods, as in the way Americans imbued food and cuisine with values that continue to shape American attitudes to this day.

Frederick Douglass Opie deconstructs and compares the foodways of people of African descent throughout the Americas, interprets the health legacies of black culinary traditions, and explains the concept of soul itself, revealing soul food to be an amalgamation of West and Central African social and cultural influences as well as the adaptations blacks made to the conditions of slavery and freedom in the Americas.

Sampling from travel accounts, periodicals, government reports on food and diet, and interviews with more than thirty people born before 1945, Opie reconstructs an interrelated history of Moorish influence on the Iberian Peninsula, the African slave trade, slavery in the Americas, the emergence of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. His grassroots approach reveals the global origins of soul food, the forces that shaped its development, and the distinctive cultural collaborations that occurred among Africans, Asians, Europeans, and Americans throughout history. Opie shows how food can be an indicator of social position, a site of community building and cultural identity, and a juncture at which different cultural traditions can develop and impact the collective health of a community.

For the majority of creatures on this earth, the elements of our first meals together--a flashing fire, bared teeth, a quantity of food placed in the center of a group of hungry animals--spell trouble in a myriad of ways. For us, the idea of a group of people coming together for a meal seems like the most natural thing in the world. The family dinner, a client luncheon, a holiday spread--a huge part of our social lives is spent eating in company. How did eating together become such a common occurrence for man? In Feast, archaeologist Martin Jones presents both historic and modern scientific evidence to illuminate how humans first came to share food and the ways in which the human meal has developed since that time. He also shows how our culture of feasting has had far-reaching consequences for human social evolution.
By studying the activities of our closest relatives, chimpanzees, and unearthing ancient hearths, some over 30,000 years old, scientists have been able to piece together a picture of how our ancient ancestors found, killed, cooked, and divided food supplies. They have also created a timeline showing the introduction of increasingly advanced tools and sophisticated social customs. In sites uncovered all over the world, fragments of bone, remnants of charred food, pieces of stone or clay serving vessels, and the outlines of ancient halls tell the story of how we slowly developed the complex traditions of eating we recognize in our own societies today. Jones takes on a tour of the most fascinating sites and artifacts that have been discovered, and shows us how archeologists are able to make their fascination conclusions. In addition, he traces the rise of such recentphenomena as biscuits, "going out to eat," and the Thanksgiving-themed TV dinner.
From the earliest evidence of human consumption around half a million years ago to the era of the drive-through diner, this fascinating account unfolds the history of the human meal and its huge impact on human society.

"Shapiro recounts the story of scientific cooking with a deft humor some might find unbecoming to a work of impeccable scholarship. Yet how else are we to think about a movement that upheld mayonnaise, cream sauce, and the extended boiling of vegetables as cures for every social ill, from drunkenness and degeneracy to feminism and labor unrest?.... My only disappointment with "Perfection Salad" is that it ends too soon." --Barbara Ehrenreich, "New York Times Book Review"

"A comprehensive, droll social history of a curious women's movement that's responsible for everything from nutritional education programs to TV dinners."--Maureen Corrigan, "Village Voice"

A food-choice toolkit and recipe book perfect for fans of the Low Tox Life podcast, Cornersmith, Anna Jones, War on Waste, Matthew Evans. What are the best foods to put in your shopping basket for your health and for the planet? Is it necessary to cut out meat, almonds and go organic? Who can afford it anyway? Bestselling author of Low Tox Life and 'ultimate gentle activist' Alexx Stuart clears a path through the rules so stridently laid down by proponents of particular diets. She turns the tables on a supermarket system that is geared strongly against our health and the environment, and points to the how rather than the what. Because questioning how your food is grown is the key to unlocking dependence on a broken food system and to finding easy and delicious answers to that daily conundrum: what's for dinner? Low Tox Life Food is packed with inspiration and stories from regenerative farmers, checklists for what to ask about the produce you buy, ways to afford better choices, as well as 80 of Alexx's most requested recipes for budget-friendly, easily adaptable meals without waste. If you want to feel more certain and more hopeful about the future of food and our planet, this book is for you.

THE BOOK LOVER'S COOKBOOK
Recipes Inspired by Celebrated Works of Literature
and the Passages that Feature Them
Shaunda Kennedy Wenger and Janet Kay Jensen
Wake up to a perfect breakfast with Mrs. Dalby's Buttermilk Scones, courtesy of James Herriot's "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and Ichabod's Slapjacks, as featured in Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." There's homey comfort food like Connie May's Tomato Pie, created with and inspired by Connie May Fowler" (Remembering Blue)"; Thanksgiving Spinach Casserole (Elizabeth Berg's "Open House"); and Amish Chicken and Dumplings (Jodi Picoult'"s""Plain Truth") . . . Sample salads, breads, and such soul-warming soups as Nearly-a-Meal Potato Soup (Terry Kay's "Shadow Song"); Mr. Casaubon's Chicken Noodle Soup (George Eliot's "Middlemarch"); and Mrs. Leibowitz's Lentil-Vegetable Soup (Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes") . . . After relishing appetizers and entrees, there's a dazzling array of desserts, including Carrot Pudding (Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol"); Effie Belle's Coconut Cake (Olive Ann Burns's "Cold Sassy Tree"); and the kids will love C.S. Lewis's Turkish Delight from "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe."
Sprinkled throughout with marvelous anecdotes about writers and writing, "The Book Lover's Cookbook" is a culinary and literary delight, a browser's cornucopia of reading pleasure, and a true inspiration in the kitchen.
Shaunda Kennedy Wenger enjoys creative cooking and writing children's stories and articles. She is currently working on a novel. Her work has been published in "Babybug," "Ladybug," "Wonder Years," "American Careers," "South Valley Living," and "Short-Short Stories for Reading Aloud" (The Education Center, 2000). She is an active member of the League of Utah Writers and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She regards her monthly book club meeting as one life's essential ingredients.
Janet Kay Jensen is published in "Healing Ministry "journal""and "The Magic of Stories. "She has received numerous awards for essays, poetry, and short stories, including three "ByLine Magazine" honorable mentions. A speech-language pathologist, she holds degrees from Utah State University and Northwestern University. She is writing a novel, teaches poetry classes to jail inmates, and is a literacy tutor. Married and the mother of three sons, she is a consultant at Utah State University.
TASTY RECIPES AND THE BOOKS THAT INSPIRED THEM
Jo's Best Omelette . . . "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
No Dieter's Delight Chicken Neapolitan . . . "Thinner" by Stephen King
Extra-Special Rhubarb Pie . . . "The Persian Pickle Club" by Sandra Dallas
Grand Feast Crab Meat Casserole . . . "At Home in Mitford" by Jan Karon
Persian Cucumber and Yogurt . . . "House of Sand and Fog" by Andre Dubus III
Tamales . . . "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel
Bev's No-Fuss Crab Cakes . . . "Unnatural Exposure" by Patricia Cornwell
Macaroni and Cheese . . . "The Accidental Tourist" by Anne Tyler
Veteran Split Pea Soup . . . "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane
Alternative Carrot-Raisin-Pineapple Salad . . . "Midwives" by Chris Bohjalian
Summer's Day Cucumber-Tomato Sandwiches . . .
"Women in Love" by D. H. Lawrence
Refreshing Black Cows . . . "The Book of Ruth" by Jane Hamilton
Dump Punch . . . "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
Not Violet, But Blueberry Pie
. . . "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
Innocent Sweet Bread . . . "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Daddy's Rich Chocolate Cake . . . "Fatherhood" by Bill Cosby

. . . and many other delectable dishes for the literary palate

"From the Hardcover edition."

Descriptions of food in Roman Britain are usually based on the cookery book of Apicius, as if the whole island dined on gourmet food. In contract Joan Alcock draws on the archaeological eveidence, as well as on Classical and Celtic literature, to discover the full range of native and imported foods needed for a growing urban populations as well as a large resident army. In addition to looking at the very varied foot and drink available - from meat, fish and dairy products to vegetables, nuts and herbs - Dr Alcock examines the eating, cooking and dining habits of people who inhabited the province. Comparison is made with other parts of the Roman Empire and, where relevant, to modern food practices. Both civilian and military diets are discussed and the nutritional benefits (or otherwise) of these diets are assessed. Complete with almost 130 illustrations (many in full colour) this is a book which will be a revelation to anyone with an interest in Roman Britain - or, indeed, in the history of cooking.

AS SEEN ON TV Easy feasting is back on the menu with this new collection from TV's Jeremy Pang. Bringing together the best flavours from across East and South East Asia, Jeremy Pang's Simple Family Feasts includes more than 80 irresistible recipes for the whole family to enjoy. Nine of the ten chapters in the book are dedicated to a different country in East and South East Asia, each one offering a range of dishes inspired by that particular cuisine. The recipes within those chapters can be enjoyed individually as a simple meal, built up with one or two other dishes or the whole chapter combined for a full-on banquet for friends and family. To simplify the cooking process, most of the recipes can be prepared using Jeremy's signature 'wok clock' technique, where the ingredients are laid out in a clock formation in the order they will be cooked. The new 'feasting wheels' will help you find a balance of colour, flavour and texture across dishes, as well as providing the order of preparation, so you have a clear process for building a delicious, crowd-pleasing feast. With food that everyone will love, Jeremy Pang's Simple Family Feasts will uncover new family favourites that you'll want to share again and again.