The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America: 2-Volume Set [Hardcover]

Andrew F. Smith (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0195154371 | ISBN-13: 978-0195154375

The history of food and drink in America is an exciting tale of unexpected twists and turns that are even more amusing than the oft-repeated myths. It is a story filled with hot-shot inventors, high-flying promoters, risk-taking growers, efficiency-conscious processors, hard-hitting advertisers, and lip-smacking consumers--all of whom have contributed to transforming lowly American food into a worldwide culinary delight.

In 800 intriguing articles (from over 200 contributors), the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America covers the significant events, inventions, and social movements in American history that have affected the way Americans view, prepare, and consume food and drink. In an A-Z format, this two-volume set details the regions, people, ingredients, foods, drinks, publications, advertising, companies, historical periods, and political and economic aspects pertinent to American cuisine. With contributions from academia, industry, and the culinary world, the Encyclopedia provides a far-ranging yet cohesive account of American history and culture from a gastronomic perspective.

From the extravagant feasts of Diamond Jim Brady in the Gilded Age to the fad diets and the health consciousness of today, the status and cultural significance of American food and rink has transformed throughout the years. With interesting anecdotes, informative sidebars, and generous bibliographies, the Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America will captivate readers--from scholars and food lovers everywhere--in this journey through American culinary history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Whether readers make a living studying culinary traditions or just enjoy eating, they'll find this book a marvel. A trove of in-depth information on every aspect of American food and drink—such as holiday food traditions, the Slow Food movement and vegetarianism—the book strives to place its subject in historical and cultural context and succeeds brilliantly. Smith, who teaches culinary history at the New School University, compiles 800 articles and 400 illustrations in a colossal package, resembling Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany in the same way that the kitchen at the Four Seasons resembles the galley of a Manhattan apartment. Under "C," we find "Chickpeas," "Child, Julia," "Clambake," "Cola Wars," "Community-Supported Agriculture" and "Cooperatives"; while "T" offers entries on "Taco Bell," "Tea," "Thanksgiving," "Transportation of Food" and "Tupperware." Readers will be hooked upon opening either of the work's two volumes and flipping to any page. Among the offerings are a Nation article from 1879 that delights in fathers who'd mortify their daughters in social situations by joking about the "frivolousness of napkins"; an entry on the french dip sandwich crediting a Los Angeles sandwich shop owner with inventing the item in 1918 (he accidentally dropped a roll into the roast drippings as he prepared a beef sandwich for a customer); a piece on Rastus, the fictional chef whose image has appeared on Cream of Wheat packages since 1896; and a fascinating exploration of Southern regional cookery. For food lovers of all stripes, this work inspires, enlightens and entertains. B&w illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–An authoritative resource that brings together "the best scholarship on the history of American food." Considering the subject from varied perspectives, the 770 articles discuss food and drink within the context of politics; geography; commerce; technology; medicine; class structure; agriculture; and symbolic, spiritual, and ethical values. The alphabetically arranged entries include chronological overviews of events and trends ("Cooking Schools," "Myths and Folklore"); specific foods and drinks ("Po'boy Sandwich," "Coca-Cola"); ethnic, religious, cultural, and racial contributions ("Native American Foods," "Thanksgiving"); biographies ("Lagasse, Emeril," "Pullman, George"); and political and social movements ("Temperance," "Pure Food and Drug Act"). Each entry includes a briefly annotated bibliography and cross references to related articles. Black-and-white illustrations add interest; most of them are historical reproductions with brief identifying captions. The writing is clear, the coverage is thorough, and the index is comprehensive. With entries ranging from "Bialy" to "Borden" (complete with a sidebar on "Elsie the Cow"), and "Vegetarianism" to "Vienna Sausage," this is an encyclopedic smorgasbord where readers can either casually graze multiple offerings or choose a single topic and dig in.–Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1584 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195154371
• ISBN-13: 978-0195154375
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 4.6 x 11.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,295,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a freelance writer and speaker on culinary matters. I teach culinary history and professional food writing at the New School in Manhattan, serve as the General Editor of the Food Series at the University of Illinois Press, and am the general editor for the Edible Series at Reaktion Press in the United Kingdom. I am also the editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia on Food and Drink in America and the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink.

I am a member of the Culinary Historians of New York, the Association for the Study of Food Society (ASFS), and the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). I serve on the editorial board for the ASFS journal, Food, Culture and Society and is the Chairman of The Culinary Trust, the philanthropic arm of IACP.

I have delivered more than fifteen hundred presentations on various educational, historical, and international topics, and has organized seventy-three major conferences. I have been frequently interviewed by and quoted in newspapers, journals and magazines, such as the New York Times, New Yorker, Reader's Digest, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Constitution, Chicago Tribune, Fortune Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. I have been regularly interviewed on radio and television, including National Public Radio and the Food Network. I have served as historical consultant to several television series and appeared in episodes of: the 'Food Essence,' developed by Charles Bishop Productions, Halifax, Canada; 'American Eats' and 'America Drinks,' documentaries regularly broadcast on the History Channel and A&E; 'A Century of Food,' produced by Greystone Communications, Inc., broadcast on the Food Network in January 2001; 'Follow that Food,' series by Gordon Elliot, broadcast on the Food Network; 'What We Eat,' hosted by Burt Wolf and produced by Acorn Productions, currently airing on PBS; 'Ever Wondered about Food' by the BBC; the Food Network's 'Top Five;' Burt Wolf's PBS program on 'Thanksgiving;' Tom Zapeicki's (WBGU) 'Ketchup: King of Condiments' on PBS; Meals in 1776, 1876 and the 1950s, Steve Gillion's History Center's program, 'Eating through American History,' which aired on May 21, 2006 on the History Channel; and Atlas Media's American Eats episodes on 'Salty Snacks,' 'Condiments,' 'Cookies,' 'Chocolate,' 'Canning,' 'Soft Drinks,' 'Holiday Food,' and 'Presidential Food,' which were released on History Channel during the Summer and Fall 2006.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great May 24, 2005

By korova

Format:Hardcover

I picked up this set because I immensely enjoy reading the Oxford Companion to Food and refer to it often.

Unfortunately, while the scope of the OEFDA is wide and many of the articles are informative and interesting, the quality of the writing is not as high as in the OCF. Perhaps Oxford University Press thought it needed to make this book "accessible" to Americans by limiting the authors to writing at an 8th grade level.

There also are factual inconsistencies throughout the book. For example, Ruffles potato chips are said to have been launched during either the 1950's or the 1970's, depending on which article about snacks you happen to be reading. This sort of sloppy editing and fact-checking is inexcusable, especially from a university press.

Bottom line: the OEFDA is an admirable attempt at creating a comprehensive survey of American food history, but there are some glaring flaws. I recommend starting with the OCF.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for history buffs and food lovers alike! November 1, 2004

By K. Fitzsimmons

Format:Hardcover

As a weekend gourmand, I found the entries in Food and Drink in America to be fascinating! From the origins of apple pie and baking soda to the lore of tomatoes, this is an amazing collection of historically-grounded, little-known stories about the food we eat. It is an indispensable reference book for anyone interested in food, cooking and American history - not to mention a comprehensive source for culinary trivia -- a great conversation piece!

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it! November 10, 2012

By Jessica A. Bruso

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is great and it is helping me out a lot, I find it so useful. I write nutrition articles and it is a great resource for finding a fun fact or two to keep things interesting.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Tool November 11, 2004

By Janet Cabot

Format:Hardcover

This is an indispensible reference tool whether you are just fascinated by food and drink and all things related or need information for backgrounding purposes. I have found it very useful. (Did you know that Dr. Pepper was created by a pharmacist from Waco, Texas in 1885?) The appendixes listing food websites, food museums, festivals etc. are quite helpful also. It's well worth the cost and a "must have" for your libary, especially if you work in or deal with the food and beverage world . . . and if you just love knowing random trivia you'll love having these volumes to thumb through!

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Resource November 13, 2004

By Vicki J. Caparulo, CCP

Format:Hardcover

I sit here with my two newly acquired volumes of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America in absolute awe! With almost 200 contributors, almost 800 entries and nearly 400 illustrations, editor Andy Smith and Oxford University Press have done a magnificent job of putting together what is clearly the most comprehensive work on this immensely broad subject ever undertaken. Whether you are a food professional or interested amateur, a historian, sociologist or anthropologist, a student or scholar, these volumes will no doubt become your most important resource for information related in any way to the history of food and drink in America. The scope is astounding, spanning some five centuries and ranging from events and trends to products, from ethnic, religions and cultural influences to political and social movements in American history, and also includes dozens of biographical entries of important contributors and influences on the development of culinary life and gastronomy in America. Despite the enormity of this work, it is refreshingly approachable, set forth alphabetically, written in clear language, translated when needed, and annotated and supplemented with bibliographical information for those wishing to explore further. As a food professional-recipe developer, food writer and culinary educator-there is no doubt in my mind that these pages will soon be worn and this seminal work will remain among my most valued and cherished resources for as long as my interest in food and gastronomy is alive.

7 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Source on Culinary History,Business, and Lore January 9, 2005

By B. Marold HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

`The Encyclopedia of Food and Wine in America' is a great 1500 page compilation of excellently written articles on virtually every aspect of the history, education, manufacture, marketing, personalities, and writing about food in America. Practically the only thing it does not include is recipes or cooking. Even sidebars whose label suggests a proper place for a recipe such as the sidebar on shoofly pie gives not one hint about how to make this delicious dessert. Given the size of the subject, it is not at all surprising that the editors have left these out, as both recipes and kitchen science can both be considered without nationality, plus the fact that there are thousands of good cookbooks and a score of books on food science available today, so why not focus on things which are not commonly covered in these books. This means that this volume can sit beside the `Larousse Gastronomique' with only a very small amount of overlap in material. These two giant books have two entirely different objectives. While both works will have articles on potatoes, Larousse will tell you how to cook them, but Oxford will tell us were they are grown, their commercial importance, nutritional importance, and their appearance in cartoons.

So, unlike Larousse, you are much more inclined to simply read the articles in these volumes for your own entertainment as much as for your need to know something. The articles are filled to the brim with interesting trivia about American food. One favorite item in the article about Spam is the fact that the word `Spam' became associated with junk e-mail on the strength of a Monty Python skit which did the same kind of number on Spam as the movie `Blazing Saddles' did on western films. Another discovery was the renaming of sauerkraut to `Liberty Cabbage' after World War I.... In this way, the book follows the style of the Encyclopedia Britannica that leans heavily toward long, detailed articles rather than shorter articles with a greater chance of redundancy, especially with a hundred or more independent contributors.

It would probably take the average foodie about five minutes of searching through these volumes to find something they miss. My first sense of something being missing was when there were articles about Charlie Trotter, Alice Waters, and Rick Bayless, but no articles on Thomas Keller, Jeremiah Tower, or Richard Olney. I would not feel the absence so acutely if the editors had given us biographies on Julia Child, James Beard, Craig Claiborne, and M.F.K. Fisher and stopped there, as all four of these figures are so obviously at the very top of the heap in their influence on American eating and food writing. On the other hand, Tower and Olney between them are probably as much an influence on culinary professionals in the United States as Alice Waters. While Olney spent much of his life living in France, he was born in Iowa and all of his most influential works, most notably his editorship of the Time-Life culinary series of books in the 1960s was aimed at American audiences. This series is mentioned twice in the long article on cookbooks with no mention of Olney as the editor, a position recommended to the publishers by James Beard. Regarding Keller and Trotter, for example, both have received the James Beard best chef in the country award and of the books attributed to these two chefs, I much prefer the two from Keller than the three from Trotter which I have reviewed. I suspect the difference in the eyes of the editors is Trotter's earlier ascendancy, his substantial charitable activities, and his better than average culinary instruction TV shows.

These quibbles aside, I am genuinely impressed by the overall quality of the writing in the thousands of articles in this work. The biographical articles all begin with a crisp statement of the importance of the subject to American culinary history. In spite of the very large number of writers, all articles seem to share this same matter of factness, with virtually no sentimentality or sensationalism. One joggling act that must have challanged the editors is how to limit the book to `American' subjects. And, they seem to have accomplished this with great good judgment. In place of any mention of French or Italian or Japanese or Korean or East Indian or Chinese subjects, the editors have given us articles on `Italian-American' food and `German-American' food. I know the German-American culinary world better than any other and I give the author of this article high marks for capturing the big picture and not limiting himself to the very easy subject of the `Pennsylvania Dutch' cuisine. Although the Amish and Mennonite communities of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and the Carolinas are at the heart of the German / American food tradition, the greater German influence is much broader, overlapping, for example, the Jewish-American culinary world and even the influences from France and Italy.

By far the best use for this work is as a starting point for serious culinary research or simply noodling around the literature of cookery for fun. In addition to the articles with their excellent bibliographies, there are appendices on general food bibliography, general wine bibliography, list of food periodicals and web sites, major food subject reference libraries, major food museums, food organizations, and food festivals.

Be warned that in spite of the title, wine gets much less than half the volume of ink spilled in these volumes. I also detected a few minor editing mistakes and omissions. The web site for the cable `Food Network' is listed as [...] but this was changed close to two years ago to [...] This little mistake is less easy to understand since the article on Julia Child notes her death which occurred about 6 months ago. Still, this book is a great source of entertainment and information for foodies and foodie scholars.

Expensive, but of high quality as a reference and entertainment. Read more ›