Americans at the Table - Reflections on Food and Culture

Americans at the Table
Reflections on Food and Culture

Americans at the Table Reflections on Food and Culture


An Electronic Journal
of the U.S. Department of State
July 2004

Welcome    
Introduction    
Celebrations of Thanksgiving    
From Kitchen to Table
Some Added Ingredients    



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Americans at the Table - Reflections on Food and Culture

CONTENTS

About This Issue

Introduction

We Are What We Eat: We Are a Nation of Immigrants!
David Rosengarten
American cuisine is a rich mixture of many different sources and traditions. A sidebar—The World Supermarket—briefly highlights the origin and spread of common foods around the globe

Celebrations of Thanksgiving

Life on a Turkey Farm
Neil Klopfenstein
Hard work and family values were byproducts of farm life.

Cuban Seasonings
Ana Menéndez
An immigrant family eagerly adopted America's quintessential holiday and made it conform to their own tastes.

A Marriage of Contrasting Traditions
April Reynolds
The author had to modify her traditional African-American, Southern turkey dinner when she moved north to study and then later married into an Italian family.

From Kitchen to Table

The Taste Setters
Michael Bandler and Steven Lauterbach
The seven individuals profiled demonstrate the influence that famous chefs have had on the American diet.

Long Journey Over Open Coals
Sylvia Lovegren
American barbecue takes hours to prepare, but it is well worth the wait.

Include Me Out—A Reflection on "Ice Tea"
Fred Chappell
North Carolina's Poet Laureate takes a humorous look at a classic American beverage, iced tea.

Knives & Forks
Francine Prose
In a rejection of cutlery chauvinism, the author expresses appreciation for the variety of ways in which people eat and what it says about the way we live. A sidebar—Why do They Eat that Way?—explains the America's "zigzag" method.

Sandwich Pride
Ed Levine
A well-known food writer provides a culinary tour of America's numerous and diverse sandwiches.

The Fat of the Land: America Confronts Its Weight Problem
Michael Jay Friedman
Americans, more overweight than ever, are beginning to realize that they must eat less and exercise more. They also have a plethora of eating guides to consult, as the sidebar Diets: A Bewildering Variety illustrates.

Some Added Ingredients

Is That Really a Restaurant?
A nostalgic look at restaurants that took the shape of the food they served.

As American As... Apple Pie
Here is how to bake the dish that is often said to epitomize the United States.
Food Talk
For speakers of English, what you say is often what you eat.

Bibliography

Internet Resources

List of Authors

Americans at the Table - Reflections on Food and CultureAmericans at the Table - Reflections on Food and CultureAmericans at the Table - Reflections on Food and CultureAmericans at the Table - Reflections on Food and CultureAmericans at the Table - Reflections on Food and Culture

eJournal USA:
U.S. Society & Values
Volume 9, Number 1 July 2004


The Bureau of International Information Programs of the U.S. Department of State publishes five electronic journals—Economic Perspectives, Global Issues, Issues of Democracy, U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda, and U.S. Society & Values—that examine major issues facing the United States and the international community as well as U.S. society, values, thought, and institutions. Each of the five is catalogued by volume (the number of years in publication) and by number (the number of issues that appear during the year).

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Editor, eJournal USA: U.S. Society & Values
IIP/T/SV
U.S. Department of State
301 4th St. S.W.
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United States of America

ejvalues@pd.state.gov

Editor Steven Lauterbach
Managing Editor Neil Klopfenstein
Associate Editor Michael J. Bandler
Associate Editors, Reference/Research Mary Ann V. Gamble
Kathy Spiegel
Photo Editor Barry Fitzgerald
____________________
Publisher Judith S. Siegel
Executive Editor Guy E. Olson
Production Manager Christian Larson
Assistant Production Manager Sylvia Scott
Editorial Board George Clack
Kathleen R. Davis
Francis B. Ward