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Founding Foodies (2010)

by Dave DeWitt(Favorite Author)

3.34 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1402258992 (ISBN13: 9781402258992)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Sourcebooks

review 1: Being non fiction, it was a bunch of new facts about the founding fathers and their likes foodwise. Fascinating to think about how much work it took to prepare their food and about the fact that they thought a lot about trying new tastes. So much so that they imported the newest things to eat to this country. Many food myths are dashed like macaroni's origin, ice cream, and I was surprised to learn that potatoes weren't staples in the colonial diets. Loved the devotion of Thomas Jefferson to maple sugar. Hadn't known about Washington's entreprenureal efforts to catch and sell shad and about his kindness in making food available for those less fortunate. Franklin's fondness for beer created the saying "Beer is proof of God's love for us."
review 2: This wa... mores a delightful look at the food culture of the early years of the Republic, and the salutatory impact that our founders had in this under-appreciated part of our history.As an author of historical fiction of this period, there are a lot of little insights, a-ha moments and tidbits in this volume, both from the culinary and the historical side of things.The addendum of modernized recipes are an interesting addition, though it seemed that relatively few of them were directly derived from recipes of the period; more were inspired by the cuisine of the time, or drawn from the author's own family recipes. I wasn't bothered by that very much, though, as there are other sources for authentic period recipes, and the author also includes original "receipts" throughout the book for source material.All in all, this is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in culinary history, or looking for insights into the cultural background in which the American Revolution unfolded. less

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