The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark: Recipes for an Expedition (Paperback)

~ (Author), Dennis Dahlin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Just in time for the bicentennial celebration of the start of the famous wilderness expedition, Mary Gunderson has brought out The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark. Through a series of recipes supported by entries in the expedition's journal, Gunderson offers a unique view of the westward journey. Beginning with a Jeffersonian dinner at the White House, where French cooking was in sway, Gunderson follows the party upriver as their stores begin to run out and Lewis and Clark are gradually forced to live off the land and the kindness of its inhabitants. Culinary oddities such as Portable Soup (a precursor of the bouillon cube) and primitive wild game recipes support quotations from the duo's journals. Gunderson's recipes are easy to follow, and anyone interested in historical cuisine can duplicate them, from sophisticated cooks to students looking for practical programs on the Lewis and Clark expedition and its era. A bibliography leads to further sources for early-nineteenth-century frontier cooking. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"....recipes capture the progression from a rather rustic civilization into the wild, dangerous, and unpredictable..." -- ForeWord Magazine, January 2003

"...recipes capture the progression from a rather rustic civilization into the wild, dangerous, and unpredictable." -- ForeWord Magazine, Winter 2003

"A wonderful book…makes us fellow travelers on a journey of survival, discovery experienced anew by cooking and eating." -- Betty Fussell, culinary historian and author of The Story of Corn and I Hear America Cooking

"An intriguing addition to the popular Lewis and Clark bookshelf." -- James Ronda, Lewis & Clark Scholar

"This book is both historically accurate and fun." -- Bev Hinds, past board member and long-time member of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation

"…a beautifully researched and written book, with an historically-accurate design to match." -- Allison Engel, co-author of Food Finds

"…a fascinating new book…Gunderson is probably the world's only "paleo-cuisineologist" – in fact, she invented "paleo-cuisineology," -- Anthony Dias Blue of Bon Appetit for WCBS-Radio

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: History Cooks (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972039104
• ISBN-13: 978-0972039109
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #608,355 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE TRIP AND ITS SWANKY GRUB, May 26, 2003

By	M. L Martindale "Owner/Operator http://www.Fo... (LARGO, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Food Journal of
LEWIS & CLARK FOOD:
Recipes for an Expedition

By Mary Gunderson

If you're a history buff and into food, this book's a "gotta have."

This Journal is not simply a cookbook. It's a chance to learn more about the people these explorers encountered, how they dealt with hardships, get to take a look at their provisioning and read actual quotes from Lewis and Clark, themselves.

Perhaps Gunderson's chapter titles tell the most about her careful research:

Jefferson's Vision, Washington, D.C.
Lewis Receives Instructions and Buys Provisions
Anticipation and Preparation, Down the Ohio to Camp Dubois
High Spirits, Up the Missouri
Buffalo! Diplomacy with the Yankton and Teton Sioux
Sacagawea, Charbonneau and Jean Baptiste Join the Expedition
Another Beginning, the Upper Missouri & Great Falls
The Journey Hangs in the Balance, Over the Mountains
Wild Roots, Elk and a Whale, Ft. Clatsop & the Pacific Coast
Down the Yellowstone - The Nez Perce Help Again

Return to St. Louis & The Long Welcome

The book is detailed account of their careful preparations, tools necessary, foods hunted, foods gathered and foods they traded for. A partial list of Philadelphia provisions spread the course from 32 tins, or 193 pounds of portable soup, assorted fish hooks, kettles, a corn mill, hatchets, a whetstone, gun powder and castile soap.

Thomas Jefferson, widely known for his food and agricultural expertise, not only wanted detailed maps and topographical reports about the Louisiana Purchase, he asked that the explorers extend every courtesy to people they met but to record how they grew crops, fishes and hunted. He asked them to observe their "food and domestic accommodations."

"As they made their way west, the pair and their trailmates sampled everything from Indian corn and buffalo tongues to camas roots and dried salmon," noted an author and filmmaker, Dayton Duncan. There is a good deal of information on Portable Soup or Pocket Soup, the fine at of making Hoe Cakes, building a special fire to cook a bear, making hominy with corn, lime and wood ashes and the making
of William Clark's Birthday Fruit Salad. Other crafts of the trail included Spoonbread, dishes like Roasted Buffalo, Turnip and Berry Ragout also Pemikan made with Juneberries and buffalo berries. Other hearty meals were Hazelnut Cornmeal Pancakes, Roasted Parsnips with Pine Nuts and Fort Clatsop Salmon Chowder with fennel and sourdough biscuits.

Named the Official Cookbook for the National Council of Lewis & Clark Bicentennial, the author states, "History is as close as a bite of buffalo jerky or a taste of hominy." This attractive, well-indexed book with deckle-edged pages, helpful maps and pleasing sketches, contains over 80 authentic recipes faithfully tested and re-created for today's kitchens. Gunderson includes a generous bibliography, suggested further reading suggestions and a handy, educational website list. In her Mail-Order Sources section, she lists mail order sources for preparing her updated recipes...

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than eighty authentic, full-flavored recipes, May 17, 2003

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Compiled and written by food historian Mary Gunderson, The Food Journal Of Lewis & Clark offers more than eighty authentic, full-flavored recipes that reflect the culture and times of an expanding early 19th century American frontier. Gunderson brings the famous exploratory journey of Lewis and Clark to life through their own words about satisfying daily hungers, provides glimpses into Thomas Jefferson's sophisticated table at the time Meriwether Lewis served as the president's secretary; shows how Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark each understood the role of food and spirits in maintaining morale among their colleagues; and the explorer's encounters and experiences with Native American tribal foods and customs. The Food Journal Of Lewis & Clark is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal cookbook shelves and community library Food History collections.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating trip to a different place and time, November 17, 2003

By	Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A very interesting historical book, "The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark" has a lot to offer. The recipes are based on the way things were prepared during the early 1800s and include some very good dishes like lemon meringue pie and pan-fried potatoes and some much less common recipes that might include ingredients like a pound of buffalo meat.

Along with these recipes the book contains various pieces of information from the trip journals. The additional information includes provisions lists such as the one from Philadelphia where they purchased 176 lbs of gunpowder and 193 lbs of "P. Soup". A "P. Soup" follows and it takes only a cursory reading to figure out that this is basically the precursor to bouillon cubes. Throughout the book there are small quotes from the journals that indicate what they were doing at the time and also several passages that give general information about the trip.

This is a book that will prove interesting to anyone interested in the Lewis & Clark Expedition or recipes of the time. "The Food Journals of Lewis & Clark" is a recommended read for any audience interested in American History and covers an area generally overlooked in other Lewis & Clark works.