| Book Review: The Food of a Younger Land |
 In just over half a century, it has become abundantly clear
how much American food traditions have been fundamentally altered, no doubt due
to a range of causes including technological advances and changes in one’s
[woman’s] daily schedule. The Food of a Younger Land, edited by Mark Kurlansky
transport the reader back to a simpler time, shy of 70 years ago, in which
automats still existed and fruit pies were a dinner table fixture.
The Food of a Younger Land consists of a series of essays and recipes written under FDR’s Works Progress Administration, for a project entitled “America Eats.” Although the project was never completed, the selected essays from across the United States offer a unique glimpse into the way we used to eat and as a result, how fast things change. The selection range is vast but by the end of the book, one seems to really understand the way things were.
Noted contributors included Zora Neale Hurston and Eudora Welty, but some of the no-name entries prove to be the most interesting. For example, Raymond Thompson writes about “The Basques of the Boise Valley,” explaining why there are Basques in Idaho in the first place and what they ate as they tended sheep. Two essays, “Nebraska Lamb and Pig Fries” and “Oklahoma Prairie Oysters” tiptoe around the um, delicate issue of eating testicles. Several titles discuss large festivals and gatherings, from barbecues to clambakes. And one particularly angry woman goes on a tirade against mashed potatoes.
As a reader, part of me certainly wanted to don a gingham dress and help mamma prepare supper, but one certainly does sympathize with the tremendous amount of cooking and cleaning women did, especially when there were guests. There is no doubt that meal preparation used to be much more time consuming and food itself was much more regional. Many of the essays discussed foods I had never heard of or certainly would never cook myself, either because they sounded incredibly time-consuming (beans that take days to make) or because they sounded incredibly gross (lutefisk).
The Food of a Younger Land does feel incomplete, and this is no fault of Kurlansky. There is so much more to learn about how and why America ate and how palates and eating habits have evolved since. There are essays about Native American fare, but only certain tribes. There is discussion about certain classic cocktails, such as the old fashioned and the mint julep, but not others. Perhaps what is most needed, is an updated version circa 2009 in which we can compare and contrast what has and hasn’t changed. Mr. Kurlansky, how about The Food of an Older Land as well?
-Carey Polis This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it | AIM: askeats | Twitter: eatsdotcom              
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