In this Book
- United Tastes: The Making of the First American Cookbook
- Book
- 2017
- Published by: University of Massachusetts Press
summary
Winner of the 2017 Bruce Fraser Award from the Association for the Study of Connecticut History
The Library of Congress has designated American Cookery (1796) by Amelia Simmons one of the eighty-eight "Books That Shaped America." Its recognition as "the first American cookbook" has attracted an enthusiastic modern audience of historians, food journalists, and general readers, yet until now American Cookery has not received the sustained scholarly attention it deserves. Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald's United Tastes fills this gap by providing a detailed examination of the social circumstances and culinary tradition that produced this American classic.
Situating American Cookery within the post-Revolutionary effort to develop a distinct national identity, Stavely and Fitzgerald demonstrate the book's significance in cultural as well as culinary terms. Ultimately the separation between these categories dissolves as the authors show that the formation of "taste," in matters of food as well as other material expressions, was essential to building a consensus on what it was to be American. United Tastes explores multiple histories—of food, cookbooks, printing, material and literary culture, and region—to illuminate the meaning and affirm the importance of America's first cookbook.
The Library of Congress has designated American Cookery (1796) by Amelia Simmons one of the eighty-eight "Books That Shaped America." Its recognition as "the first American cookbook" has attracted an enthusiastic modern audience of historians, food journalists, and general readers, yet until now American Cookery has not received the sustained scholarly attention it deserves. Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald's United Tastes fills this gap by providing a detailed examination of the social circumstances and culinary tradition that produced this American classic.
Situating American Cookery within the post-Revolutionary effort to develop a distinct national identity, Stavely and Fitzgerald demonstrate the book's significance in cultural as well as culinary terms. Ultimately the separation between these categories dissolves as the authors show that the formation of "taste," in matters of food as well as other material expressions, was essential to building a consensus on what it was to be American. United Tastes explores multiple histories—of food, cookbooks, printing, material and literary culture, and region—to illuminate the meaning and affirm the importance of America's first cookbook.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Introduction
- pp. 1-4
- Part 1. Cooks and Books
- pp. 5-10
- Chapter 1. Adapted to This Country
- pp. 11-28
- Chapter 2. Culinary Tradition
- pp. 29-51
- Chapter 3. Print Culture
- pp. 52-80
- Part 2. Connecticut
- pp. 81-86
- Chapter 4. Society and Nationality
- pp. 87-112
- Chapter 5. Domestic Culture
- pp. 113-145
- Chapter 7. The Cookbook
- pp. 183-218
- Chapter 8. The Author and the Printers
- pp. 219-244
- Chapter 9. The Readers and the Editions
- pp. 245-262
- Appendix 1. The Sources of American Cookery
- pp. 271-274
- Appendix 2. Recipes from Plain to Fancy
- pp. 275-278
- Bibliography
- pp. 319-340
- About the Authors
- pp. 352-353
- Back Cover
- p. 354
Additional Information
ISBN
9781613765579
Related ISBN(s)
9781613765586, 9781625343222
MARC Record
OCLC
1046072755
Pages
368
Launched on MUSE
2018-07-28
Language
English
Open Access
No