The history, legends, and cookery of America's favorite snack food
Whether in movie theaters or sports arenas, at fairs or theme
parks, around campfires or family hearths, Americans consume more
popcorn by volume than any other snack. To the world, popcorn seems
as American as baseball and apple pie. Within American food lore,
popcorn holds a special place, for it was purportedly shared by
Native Americans at the first Thanksgiving. In Popped Culture,
Andrew F. Smith tests such legends against archaeological,
agricultural, culinary, and social findings. While debunking many
myths, he discovers a flavorful story of the curious kernel's
introduction and ever-increasing consumption in North America.
Unlike other culinary fads of the nineteenth century, popcorn has
never lost favor with the American public. Smith gauges the reasons
for its unflagging popularity: the invention of wire over the fire
poppers, commercial promotion by shrewd producers, the fascination
of children with the kernel's magical pop, and affordability. To
explain popcorn's twentieth-century success, he examines its
fortuitous association with new technology--radio, movies,
television, microwaves--and recounts the brand-name triumphs of
American manufacturers and packagers. His familiarity with the
history of the snack allows him to form expectations about
popcorn's future in the United States and abroad. Smith concludes
his account with more than 160 surprising historical recipes for
popcorn cookery, including the intriguing use of the snack in
custard, hash, ice cream, omelets, and soup.
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