Alabama Booksmith

Description

What could be a more fun and delicious way to celebrate American culture than through the lore of our favorite foods? That's what John T. Edge does in his smart, witty, and compulsively readable new series on the dishes everyone thinks their mom made best. If these are the best-loved American foods-ones so popular they've come to represent us-what does that tell us about ourselves? And what do the history of the dish and the regional variations reveal?

There are few aspects of life that carry more emotional weight and symbolism than food, and in writing about our food icons, Edge gives us a warm and wonderful portrait of America -by way of our taste buds. After all, "What is patriotism, but nostalgia for the foods of our youth?" as a Chinese philosopher once asked.

About the Author

John T. Edge, whose work has appeared in Gourmet and Saveur and has been featured in Best Food Writing for the last three years, is also the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi. His many books include the James Beard Award- nominated cookbook A Gracious Plenty, and he is a finalist for the 2004 M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James Beard Foundation.