Food and Drink in American History ─ A "Full Course" Encyclopedia

Food and Drink in American History is a three-volume compendium of information touching on a range of topics involving food, food production, ingredients, social aspects of food, historical personages, corporate history, and much else that relates to food and drink in America. The work contains 664 alphabetically arranged (often short) entries, on such diverse topics as artificial sweeteners; the faces of Betty Crocker; fast food; GMOs; stores and chain restaurants; ethnic cuisine; candy companies; famous cooks and writers; food industrialists; the origin of lunch; soft drinks; meatpacking; regional foods and food eras; pre-Columbian food; prohibition; salt; seed companies; the slow food movement; sportfishing; tomatoes; TV dinners; staple crops; the World Trade Organization; and yogurt. The work also contains 285 historical recipes, and is supplemented throughout with sideboxes that go into further detail on particular ingredients, dishes or persons. Black and white illustrations appear throughout, including historical images, industrial and news photos, and many advertising images. A complete subject index appears in the back of each volume. The volumes are extensively indexed, and include a chronology of food-related events in America, from prehistoric settlement to provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Each encyclopedia entry contains one or more source citations and cross-references to related entries. Volume 3 contains a chronological listing of source documents, and includes selections from 129 primary sources, as well as appendices on the numerous resources now available for information about American food history. Editor Smith has written almost all of the encyclopedia entries, as well as being the compiler of this extensive reference work. While aimed mainly at a general audience, the work is suitable for a variety of readers. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Andrew F. Smith has taught the history of American food and drink at the New School University in New York, NY, for the past 18 years.