The Taste of American Place

Tracing the intertwined roles of food, ethnicity, and regionalism in the construction of American identity, this textbook examines the central role food plays in our lives. Drawing on a range of disciplines—including sociology, anthropology, folklore, geography, history, and nutrition—the editors have selected a group of engaging essays to help students explore the idea of food as a window into American culture.

Tracing the intertwined roles of food, ethnicity, and regionalism in the construction of American identity, this textbook examines the central role food plays in our lives. Drawing on a range of disciplines_including sociology, anthropology, folklore, geography, history, and nutrition_the editors have selected a group of engaging essays to help students explore the idea of food as a window into American culture. The editors' general introductory essay offers an overview of current scholarship, and part introductions contextualize the readings within each section. This lively reader will be a valuable supplement for courses on American culture across the social sciences.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Food and American Culture
Part 2 Regional Foods
Chapter 3 Pasties in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Foodways, Interethnic Relations, and Regionalism
Chapter 4 Rocky Mountain Oysters
Chapter 5 Loco Moco: A Folk Dish in the Making
Chapter 6 The Cincinnati Chili Culinary Complex
Chapter 7 A Pound of Kenya, Please, or a Single Short Skinny Mocha
Chapter 8 The Maine Lobster as Regional Icon: Competing Images over Time and Social Class
Chapter 9 Patterns of American Rice Consumption 1955 and 1980
Chapter 10 Food-Place Associations on American Product Labels
Chapter 11 The Compiled Cookbook as Foodways Autobiography
Part 12 Ethnic Foods
Chapter 13 Introduction: On Ethnic Foodways
Chapter 14 Bierocks and Back for More Bierocks
Chapter 15 Cajuns and Crawfish
Chapter 16 Playing with Food: The Negotiation of Identity in the Ethnic Display Event by Italian Americans in Clinton, Indiana
Chapter 17 New York Jews and Chinese Food: The Social Construction of an Ethnic Pattern
Part 18 Eating Out
Chapter 19 Eating Out in South Carolina's Cities: The Last Fifty Years
Chapter 20 The Geography of Food in Eastern Oklahoma: A Small Restaurant Study
Chapter 21 From Pushcart to Modular Restaurant: The Diner on the Landscape
Chapter 22 Fast Foods: American Food Regions
Chapter 23 You Are Where You Eat