I live in a young country but it seems like we’ve aged like no other place in the world, despite our obscene superabundance. Nowhere is this more apparent than in what we eat and how we eat. And right now there is a profound surge in food literature and criticism, all of which point to the fact that our nation’s diet, from factory farm to plastic plate, is apocalyptic at best.
On the bright side, our current obsession with gastronomic traditions has inspired lots of excellent writing about food, from current writers and forgotten ones as well. I’ve always said that food is still waiting for its Ulysses to be written.
Many of our contemporary food critics point to the past, as well as older traditions, for alternatives to our dilemmas, omnivore’s and otherwise. Among these impassioned cultural journalists is the singular Mark Kurlansky, author of the new The Food Of A Younger Land and whose previous works include cultural histories of salt, the Basque people, cod and the small port town of Gloucester.
At my bookstore bright now, the attractive, bright red cover of The Food Of A Younger Land has been staring at me from the new book display for a couple months now. I’ve picked it up, I’ve leafed through it, I’ve recommended it to customers, I’ve read the front blurbs and the back blurbs numerous times. I’ve considered buying it and have vowed to buy it but have been distracted.
I will buy it tomorrow.
However, this book is already compelling, starting with its premise: “A portrait of American food — before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation’s food was seasonal, regional, and traditional — from the lost WPA files.”
Back in the 1930’s, as part of FDR’s Work Progress Administration, out-of-work authors like Nelson Algren, Ralph Ellison and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as many now-forgotten authors were commissioned to go around the country and talk to people in every region of the Union about what they eat, how they eat it and how they prepare it. The resulting project called America Eats was largely filed away in the Library Of Congress and never published until recently. The result, by the looks of it, is a fascinating compendium of old American recipes and tales, complete with Kurlanksy’s insightful historical commentary.
Interested in simulating a traditional Maine clam bake? Or the recipe for an old-time mint julep? Or beaver tail? Or the many, conflicting ways to make baked beans? Or chitlins? Or all the eye-opening folklore and historical anecdotes and fables that goes with it? This is the book for you.
Fitting as well that it is dedicated to Studs Terkel.
