The history of food and drink in America is an exciting tale of unexpected twists and turns filled with with hot-shot inventors, high-flying promoters, and hard-hitting advertisers. From the California coast to Coney Island, this book takes readers on a panoramic journey through American culinary history. 250 halftone illustrations. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Starred Review. Whether readers make a living studying culinary traditions or just enjoy eating, they'll find this book a marvel. A trove of in-depth information on every aspect of American food and drink such as holiday food traditions, the Slow Food movement and vegetarianism the book strives to place its subject in historical and cultural context and succeeds brilliantly. Smith, who teaches culinary history at the New School University, compiles 800 articles and 400 illustrations in a colossal package, resembling Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany in the same way that the kitchen at the Four Seasons resembles the galley of a Manhattan apartment. Under "C," we find "Chickpeas," "Child, Julia," "Clambake," "Cola Wars," "Community-Supported Agriculture" and "Cooperatives"; while "T" offers entries on "Taco Bell," "Tea," "Thanksgiving," "Transportation of Food" and "Tupperware." Readers will be hooked upon opening either of the work's two volumes and flipping to any page. Among the offerings are a Nation article from 1879 that delights in fathers who'd mortify their daughters in social situations by joking about the "frivolousness of napkins"; an entry on the french dip sandwich crediting a Los Angeles sandwich shop owner with inventing the item in 1918 (he accidentally dropped a roll into the roast drippings as he prepared a beef sandwich for a customer); a piece on Rastus, the fictional chef whose image has appeared on Cream of Wheat packages since 1896; and a fascinating exploration of Southern regional cookery. For food lovers of all stripes, this work inspires, enlightens and entertains. B&w illus. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Starred Review. Gr 9 Up An authoritative resource that brings together "the best scholarship on the history of American food." Considering the subject from varied perspectives, the 770 articles discuss food and drink within the context of politics; geography; commerce; technology; medicine; class structure; agriculture; and symbolic, spiritual, and ethical values. The alphabetically arranged entries include chronological overviews of events and trends ("Cooking Schools," "Myths and Folklore"); specific foods and drinks ("Po'boy Sandwich," "Coca-Cola"); ethnic, religious, cultural, and racial contributions ("Native American Foods," "Thanksgiving"); biographies ("Lagasse, Emeril," "Pullman, George"); and political and social movements ("Temperance," "Pure Food and Drug Act"). Each entry includes a briefly annotated bibliography and cross references to related articles. Black-and-white illustrations add interest; most of them are historical reproductions with brief identifying captions. The writing is clear, the coverage is thorough, and the index is comprehensive. With entries ranging from "Bialy" to "Borden" (complete with a sidebar on "Elsie the Cow"), and "Vegetarianism" to "Vienna Sausage," this is an encyclopedic smorgasbord where readers can either casually graze multiple offerings or choose a single topic and dig in. Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

This is an impressive feat of bibliographic scholarship listing more than 11,000 works that make use of the Arthurian legends. It shows, at a glance, the virtual explosion of such works in the twentieth century; while coverage of the literature of 1250-1899 takes less than 200 pages, more than 600 pages are required to document the literature of 1900-2000. Volume 1 is arranged chronologically and lists those works considered by scholars to be "in the province of Arthurian studies," in other words, works that are about the tradition, legend, and myth of King Arthur and his knights, the Round Table, Camelot, and the Holy Grail. Most of the entries are primary texts, ranging from Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale" (a retelling of the Gawain and Loathly Lady story) to, more recently, Marion Bradley's Mists of Avalon (1982) and Stephen R. Lawhead's Arthur (1989). Among the works that are included are reprints and retellings of classic texts, translations into English, and, for more recent years, sound recordings, comic books, films, television programs, and computer games. Secondary criticism is listed very selectively. The entries are arranged by year and then, within the year, alphabetically by author. Bibliographic information is followed by a brief description of the work. The primary entry for each work also includes a publication history. Each year's listings conclude with cross--references that are meant "to complete the picture of Arthurian production for that year." Volume 2 is essentially an index to volume 1. There are eight indexes for people, titles, characters, and more, each referring back to volume 1 by year only, rather than by page number. This unfortunately perpetuates the only weakness of the work: lack of accessibility. The arrangement of volume 1 encourages little else but browsing; a lack of page references in volume 2 does not provide any relief. Nevertheless, The Arthurian Annals is a worthy addition to research collections in academic and large public libraries. JohnDoherty. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

How did mock apple pie originate? What's the difference between a frappe and a milkshake? Who introduced the first frozen TV dinner? Answers to queries such as these can be found in this highly entertaining set, which follows the footsteps of other highly regarded Oxford reference sources (Alan Davidson's The Oxford Companion to Food, CH May'00, 37-4812; The Oxford Companion to Wine, ed. by Jancis Robinson, CH Apr'95, 32-4248a). The preface states that the objective is "to make a major contribution by bringing together in one authoritative reference work the best scholarship on the history of American Food." Nearly 200 scholars offer 770 entries that cover topics from African American food to zombies (a cocktail). Entries, in alphabetical order, range in length from a paragraph ("Moxie") to several pages ("Ethnic Foods"). Entries consider food from different time periods, specific food or drink, contributions from ethnic groups, and contributors to the field of food and drink. Entries include see also references and bibliographies and feature numerous photographs, sidebars, and old advertisements. Volume 1 supplies an alphabetical list of all the articles and a list of abbreviations. Volume 2 has several useful appendixes: a topical food bibliography, a list of food periodicals, a drink bibliography, and lists of Web sites, American library culinary collections, and food-related museums, organizations, and festivals. The work includes a topical index of entries, a roster of contributors, and an alphabetical index. Summing Up: Essential. All food collections; highly recommended for all libraries. General Readers; Lower-division Undergraduates; Upper-division Undergraduates; Graduate Students; Researchers/Faculty; Two-year Technical Program Students; Professionals/Practitioners. Reviewed by S. A. Marien. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.