First published 2009
Mark Kurlansky excavates a forgotten treasure from the 1930s Federal Writers' Project. During the Great Depression, FDR dispatched writers like Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and Nelson Algren across America to document local eating customs and food traditions. Their mission, dubbed "America Eats," captured regional cuisine before highways connected the country and chain restaurants standardized meals. The project ended abruptly when World War II began, leaving thousands of stories buried in archives. Kurlansky resurrects these accounts and weaves them into a vivid portrait of American food culture. The writers discovered New York automats and Georgia Coca-Cola parties, Arkansas possum-eating clubs and Puget Sound salmon feasts. They recorded Choctaw funeral rituals and South Carolina barbecues, Mississippi chittlins and Indiana persimmon puddings. This book combines their original reports with period recipes, photographs, and Kurlansky's commentary to recreate an era when food remained seasonal and local, shaping the character of communities across the nation.
Genres: 20th-century, non-fiction, food, cookbooks, american-history, food-writing, food-history
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-preservation, historical-non-fiction
Setting: New York, Georgia, Arkansas, Puget Sound, Choctaw, South Carolina, Mississippi, Indiana
Period: Great Depression, World War II
398 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Books