This book is an excellent social history of the eating and cooking habits of America in the period before and including the 1930s. Kurlansky didn't write this, he edited the raw manuscripts from the 1940 Federal Writers' Project of the WPA, rescued these essays, recipes, and poems on food, cooking, and eating, from their Library of Congress oblivion, and wrote the introductory material.

While the social history aspect is fascinating (there is not even a mention of wine until you get to the Southwest and the Mexican/Spanish population -- almost all of America drank coffee with all their meals), after getting the gist of it, I found the recipes and descriptions of the food somewhat boring.

The US has had, and in fact, among many people, still has the reputation for being a country that has no cuisine and that doesn't know how to cook -- a country that eats hot dogs and hamburgers, and maybe some pie that is worth notice. And the truth is, this book, doesn't dispel that myth to any great degree. If people were eating and cooking the way described by the WPA writers (and there is no reason to believe they were not) than it's a good thing Julia Child came back from Europe to save the country.

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3.5 An enjoyable, if uneven, collection. This is a book culled, not made, so difficult to review comprehensively. Considerably redundant and more recipe based than was necessary. Worth it for sheer variance and moments of joy. ( )

This was more of a 2 1/2 - some bits were interesting, but there's only so many meat barbecues I'm interested in reading about. Also the library wanted it back - I mostly skimmed the last 1/2 of it. There were some interesting stories about native American foods. The whole time capsule feel of some of the pieces was fascinating, but somehow it came across more as a pile of essays rather than something that hung together. ( )

An interesting compilation of lost regional/state culinary essays and interviews written by authors employed by the Works Progress Administration during The Great Depression. A treasure trove for food historians and anyone curious about the roots of American cuisine. ( )

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