The Founding Foodies
Jan 29, 2011
Author: Dave DeWitt
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: November, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-1786-9
This book is listed under cookbooks as it's genre, but I have to say that this is NOT a cookbook. It's a history book with recipes in it. A few of the recipes are written in Old English, giving it a bit of an intellectual challenge on top of culinary challenge. Others are just written with old fashioned cooking descriptions - I especially like the one telling you to kill a 5 or 6 month old hog and "take out the Innards". Never fear though, Chapter 7 recreates the recipe in easy to follow modern wording.
This book tells a very interesting story of how American food came about. What was imported, what foods were our founding president's favorites that they therefore fostered, what what specifically grown/developed for our area.
Our Founding Fathers left detailed records while they were all President and there is a surprising amount of food information included in their journals.
Did you know Thomas Jefferson brought Macaroni and Cheese to America!? Now there's an American hero. ;) Benjamin Franklin brought Succotash, which I don't like so he's not one of my heroes.
If you're a foodie, this is a fun, fun book to add to your collection.
Let me know if you follow the innard removal recipe - I want to know how it turns out. :)
