American Appetite: The Coming of Age of a Cuisine

by Leslie Brenner

Book Overview

In a highly entertaining, anecdotal style, Leslie Brenner traces the American relationship to food, cooking, and eating from the Pilgrims through to America's obsession with arugula -- and beyond. Her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380973367
• ISBN13: 9780380973361
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Keyhole on America - A New Classic

Why is there not more buzz being generated about this new American classic? I was lucky to stumble on it...and what a revelation! "American Appetite" is destined to take its place alongside Mark Twain's "Roughing It" and Ring Lardner Jr's "Drinking in America" as a brilliant, satiric illumination of our national character...a very wise overview that chronicles the collective personality of our huge, quirky nation through the history of its oddball eating habits, which include the fall and rise of its cuisine. This book is by turns fascinating, hilarious and ultimately, strangely revealing. It's a keyhole on our ingenious, obsessive culture. What we eat, it turns out, tells us who we are. And the voice of the narrator is both as light and serious as a great souffle. People who love to eat, love to read, love history, love the USA, and especially those who thrill to truth on the page, should all rush out and buy this book.

a book any gastronome will feast on

Anyone who loves and follows the food scene will find American Appetite indispensible. Trends seem to happen so fast in food these days, but this book charts the course that brought us here, so that we can make sense of our unique food culture. How we can love ketchup and cereal on one hand, and foie gras and salsify on the other. Brenner pins down true trends (e.g., how Julia Child inspired otherwise boxed-in home cooks) sets myths straight (Alice Waters didn't invent anything). Her style is breezy even while the content can be quite studious. In fact, I'd say this book will appeal most to any person who considers him/herself a student of food. It's an invigorating reminder that we are what we eat.

Ambitious, insightful, and intelligent--a delightful read

Perhaps it's because I'm fascinated by food, but this was the first nonfiction book I ever read without putting it down (almost!). Brenner offers a fascinating look at how America became a land of frozen foods and antiseptic supermarkets, and traces how we fell in love with food, then riffs on what it all means. Most interesting to me was that although I knew that Julia Child had done a lot to change the way we thought about food, Brenner actually examines what was going on culturally after World War II that led us to be more open to the pleasures of the table. Also, I was surprised to learn how changes in immigration law in the 1960s affected what we'd be eating 25 years later and how truly influential California cuisine was for the rest of the country. A lesser writer might founder with such a mix of cultural, culinary, and personal history, but Brenner pulls it off with aplomb. I also loved her writing style and stories about her relationship with food as a child. Far from being a dry sort of chronicle, this book is filled with interesting cultural observations; it's also very funny. I've recommended it to all my food-loving friends. As Julia Child would say, "Bon appetit!"

Witty, wise, passionate

For those, like me, who sometimes find themselves intimidated by sophisticated conversations about food, the days of mute inferiority are over. Witty, wise, passionate, Leslie Brenner provides a wonderful guide through the history and current intricacies of American cuisine.

interesting social history through cuisine changes

American Appetite is an interesting social history, an account of how Americans' growing affluence and sophistication has affected how, where and what they eat. From the use of processed,frozen or canned food, a fear and abhorrence of anything at all "foreign" in the forties, we have become obsessed with freshness, novelty of preparation, and the acceptance and welcoming of foreign cuisines, and many of us are willing to travel far and pay serious money for a dinner in a selected number of culinary palaces. Chefs have achieved status and cookbooks and cooking shows on television have become big business. Cooking has become an activity shared by affluent couples, and sometimes cuisine has become a competitive sport. Leslie Brenner has written a lively and amusing account of the social and historical forces at work, among them Americans' ability to travel abroad, the influx of immigrants, especially from Southeast Asia, the availability of fresh produce year-round, and the growth of farmers' markets. Her specifics, whether greenmarkets or notable chefs, tend to be concentrated in New York or California, so that a midwesterner reading her book has a sense of frustration. But there are rewards for readers anywhere in the country. Some of her comments on typical "fine-dining" restaurants are so accurate that they evoke laughter- the snobby waiters parodied by Garrison Keillor at the "Cafe Boeuf", the absurdity of dress codes requiring jackets and ties for men, even in the summer at a country inn. Since I am a habitual spiller of wine on tablecloth, the "napkin of shame" broke me up, and still does! This is not a careful sociological study of how the average American cooked then and cooks now, but rather a book for the reader who enjoys cooking adventurous food and is willing to seek it out and pay for it. Her personal recollections of her mother's culinary development are both poignant and amusing. Some of the author's prescriptions and suggestions may not be practical for the average cook (half an hour to julienne vegies for a two year old?), but they indicate the high standards the author sets in her own kitchen. American Appetite an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.