Customer Reviews

Wagon Wheel Kitchens: Food on the Oregon Trail

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wagon Wheel Kitchens can be considered a classic now, one of the best books on eating and cooking on the Oregon Trail. It's not just recounting of the trials and tribulations of gathering and carrying foodstuffs for the months-long travel, but the new science and technology that made going on the Oregon Trail possible. The very basics that we take for granted today such a flour, are all explored. I found the nascent food science such as Preston's yeast flour and the fight over ingredients that made a simple loaf of bread rise all interesting and thought-provoking. What on earth would people do today when many can't even make a simple roux?

Highly recommended not only for someone interested in the Oregon Trail, but also for putting family history into context. Any teacher studying this period in the classroom or college level would benefit from reading it for himself or assigning it.

Good read for those interested in how their ancestors ate -- especially if it is known one of them was among those who went west using this paticular route. Highly recommended.

Finally, the book I've been looking for in researching the Oregon Trail, WAGON WHEEL KITCHENS is a detailed description of food acquistion and preparation on the Oregon Trail. It was also an interesting book to read.