Farmbrarian

Click here to find at a library near you!

Allan Benton, “Hog Smoker” in Madisonville, TN, says he “committed himself to making a good product, to doing it the old way.” Jake Norris, “Whiskey Craftsman” of Denver, CO, says his idea of a life well spent is when you “do one thing and do it well…no compromise.” The world is full of food artisans, each with a story more charming than the last. In her book Food Heroes: 16 Culinary Artisans Preserving Tradition (2010), Georgia Pellegrini highlights some tremendous examples.

Aside from the “Hog Smoker” and the “Whiskey Craftsman,” Pellegrini takes readers to meet a “Chocolate Pioneer,” a tamale maker in Arkansas, a brewmeister in Germany, and many more. Each story is brief, but enchanting. The descriptions of her encounters with these foods are incredibly vivid. I could almost taste the whiskey when reading how her sip “turns into lemon zest and white pepper, then blueberries and cream, then porridge. It keeps changing, flipping, like a fish on a deck.” Each tale left me wanting to Google the artisan to see if I could order online.

Beyond the gustatory excitement, the book is inspiring. These craftsmen (and women) are sticking to their guns and following their dreams. They are making a healthy living, possibly only because people today are slowly beginning to seek out better food. Reading Pellegrini’s work makes it seem as though there is no choice other than finding these delicious, culturally rich foods created with supreme care. Furthermore, the stories of the artisans might make you wonder why you’re wasting your time doing something you don’t love!

Contest update: Thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to our randomly selected winner Beth. Lookout for more giveaways in the future!

You might also like: American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of our Woods, Waters, and Fields

Click Here to Find at a Library Near You!

The United States has some amazing and very diverse food traditions. Perhaps you’re interested in “Mississippi Mullet Salad,” also referred to as “Biloxi Bacon” (certainly more appetizing by that name). And sure, Boston has its baked beans recipe (it is Bean Town after all), but are you aware of “Nebraska Baked Beans”?

Author Mark Kurlansky pulls off a truly intriguing and unique project in his book The Food of a Younger Land. Kurlansky poured through the lost files of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) – a Great Depression era, New Deal program that hired thousands of writers across the country to piece together a thorough look at how Americans ate. The project was called America Eats. Sadly, it was interrupted by the bombing of Pearl Harbor and subsequent  focus on World War II and was never finished.

Ultimately, The Food of a Younger Land is a patchwork of recipes and food stories from the America Eats project. Each of America’s many, many food traditions is worthy of being remembered, if for no other reason than the curiosity of history. Kurlansky has provided a great service by assembling this book. After all, you never know when you might like to try “Indian Persimmon Pudding,” or “Georgia Possum and Taters.”

You might also like: Twain’s Feast: Searching For America’s Lost Foods In the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens by Andrew Beahrs

Click to find at a library near you!

The concept of terroir hasn’t been widely applied to American foods until now. In his newest book, James Beard Award-winning author Rowan Jacobsen discusses how climate, topography, soil and other factors shape the flavors of 12 different foods.

The French apply the concept of terroir most notably to wine varieties. Burgundy and Champagne for example are named after the regions in which they grow—and no others can be named so. The French recognize that place distinguishes taste, but the American landscape had been largely overlooked in this regard. We are known instead for mass produced, highly processed foodstuffs. In American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields (2010), Jacobsen demonstrates that the Americas have a great number of foods that showcase our unique lands.

How do the oysters of Totten Bay in the Puget Sound get their unique flavor? How many varieties of honey do we produce in the United States? What edibles can you find while foraging wild forests? And how does terrain effect coffee bean production? All of these stories and more illustrate that place is very much intertwined with taste.

Anyone interested in the ideals of Slow Food will find this book captivating and will envy the hands-on research Jacobsen did to prepare his newest book.

Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing a review copy of this text upon request.

Click here to find at a library near you!

Boston bacon and beans, Cutthroat trout from Lake Tahoe, and Philadelphia terrapin soup are just a few entries on Mark Twain’s list of more than 80 favorite foods. Author Andrew Beahrs not only prepares meals of some of Twain’s favorite dishes, he also traces Twain’s life’s journey in order to understand the great author’s experiences with food. In Twain’s Feast: Searching For America’s Lost Foods In the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens (2010), Beahrs recounts all of his findings and experiences. The result is a truly unique book that discusses food traditions dating back a hundred and fifty years.

Sadly, many of the meals Twain enjoyed are simply not available to us anymore. The Illinois prairie chickens described in the book sound tantalizing, but the replacement of “twelve-foot-high big bluestem” prairie grass with corn monocrops effectively ended the availability of the prairie chicken by stealing its habitat. According to the author, the first John Deere plow made this habitat “transition” possible. Lahontan Cutthroat trout of Lake Tahoe were once recorded at up to thirty pounds. Today, however, they are much harder to find due in part to the Army Corps of Engineers altering the course of the Truckee River, the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe.

Twain’s Feast takes readers back to the time when seasonal, local eating was the only type of eating. Thankfully, we are slowly realizing that food traditions are important and worthy of looking after. Twain yearned for American food while traveling in Europe, and I fear that we too will end up longing for our traditional, tasteful and nourishing foods if we let mass produced, tasteless foods take over our tables.

Click here to find at a library near you!

Alice Waters is widely known as the creator of California cuisine, which aims to prepare delicious food by utilizing the freshest local ingredients available. And Chez Panisse is recognized as one of the best restaurants in the United States. In the first authorized biography, Thomas McNamee triumphs in telling the intricately woven story of the famed restaurant and its renowned proprietor.

McNamee chronicles the early years of Waters’ life, the experiences that led her to open Chez Panisse, and the many “romantic, impractical, eccentric, ultimately brilliant” events of the years that followed. This is also very much the tale of the chefs, waiters, farmers, cooks, foragers, friends, mentors, lovers, and countless others who form the Chez Panisse famille.

McNamee’s conversational tone and inclusion of lengthy dialogues will make you feel like you’ve occupied a cozy corner in Chez Panisse since its inception. By the end of this captivating and inspirational story you’ll feel like a genuine member of the family.