More than Mom's apple pie, peanut butter is the all-American food. With its rich, roasted-peanut aroma and flavor; caramel hue; and gooey, consoling texture, peanut butter is an enduring favorite, found in the pantries of at least 75 percent of American kitchens. Americans eat more than a billion pounds a year. According to the Southern Peanut Growers, a trade group, that's enough to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon (although the association doesn't say to what height).Americans ...

"A delightful book about America's most popular nut butter and sandwich spread . . . well-written, fast-paced, surprising."—Andrew F. Smith, editor in chief, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in AmericaAmericans spoon it out of the jar, eat it in sandwiches by itself or with its bread-fellow jelly, and devour it with foods ranging from celery and raisins ("ants on a log") to a grilled sandwich with bacon and bananas (the classic "...

A Hollywood screenwriting and movie-making icon, Ernest Lehman penned some of the most memorable scenes to ever grace the silver screen. Hailed by Vanity Fair as "perhaps the greatest screenwriter in history," Lehman's work on films such as North by Northwest, The King and I, Sabrina, West Side Story, and The Sound of Music helped define a generation of movie making.But while his talent took center stage, the public knew little of Lehman...

A cup of coffee is a miracle, a wonderful assemblage of relationships”. This classic follows coffee's journey around the world, from London to Brazil, telling in fascinating detail and amusing anecdote the singular history of the legendary commodity, from its discovery that chewing on the beans were keeping goats awake in Yemen to the author’s own experiences with the bean in 1935.Referred to as a documentary novel” back during its inception, H.E. Jacobs pioneered the concept of ...

**A James Beard Award–winning journalist reveals the surprising forces that shape our eating habits“Sax is great company, a writer of real and lasting charm.” —New York Times Book Review**In this eye-opening, witty work of reportage, David Sax uncovers the world of food trends: where they come from, how they grow, and where they end up. Traveling from the South Carolina rice plot of America’s premier grain guru to Chicago’s gluttonous Baconfest, Sax reveals a world...

When author and homesteader Nicole Faires decided to retrofit an old school bus and tour America’s small farms with her husband and two small children, she expected to learn a lot, be inspired, and have some fun. But what she found disturbed her. Mismanaged small farms; clueless urbanites setting up shop to get back to the land”; a mindless devotion to organic farming; and, ultimately, the discovery of just how dependent we are on corporations for our food.She began to understand ...

The content of The Canadian Housewife’s Manual of Cookery owes much to contemporary cookbooks published in America, England, and France. There are several hundred recipes including soups, sauces, fish, meats, poultry, eggs, game, vegetables, puddings, pancakes, fritters, pastry, cakes, bread, sweets, salads, ale, beer, and summer drinks. In addition, the book contains a chapter on homemade concoctions for various illnesses, information on maintaining a dairy and cheese-making, kee...

From the international bestselling author of Red Herrings and White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel & They Laughed at Galileo.Did you know that the Cornish pasty was invented to protect tin miners from arsenic poisoning, or that the word 'salary' comes from Roman soldiers being paid their wages in salt? Why do we eat goose (or turkey) at Christmas?Is the Scotch egg actually from Scotland and what did some retired crusaders have to do with French toast? Who w...

Get ready to devour America. Adam Richman, the exuberant host of Travel Channel's Man v. Food and Man v. Food Nation, has made it his business to root out unique dining experiences from coast to coast.Now, he zeroes in on some of his top-favorite cities—from Portland, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia—to share his uproariously entertaining food travel stories, top finds, and some invaluable (and hilarious) cautionary tales. America the Edible also tells the sto...

This book is a fascinating history of tea and the spreading of tea throughout the world.Camellia sinensis, commonly known as tea, is grown in tea gardens and estates around the world. A simple beverage served either hot or iced, tea has fascinated and driven us, calmed and awoken us, for well over two thousand years.The most extensive and well-presented tea history available, Tea: The Drink that Changed the World tells of the rich legends ...

Taste your way through America with more than 125 recipes for our favorite historical cakes and frostings.Cakes in America aren't just about sugar, flour, and frosting. They have a deep, rich history that developed as our country grew. Cakes, more so than other desserts, are synonymous with celebration and coming together for happy times. They're an icon of American culture, reflecting heritage, region, season, occasion, and era. And they always have been, througho...

As the first to write a basic book in English on winemaking from the winemaker’s point of view, Philip Wagner has long been considered an authority on the subject, and his book American Wines and Wine-Making has become a bible for small producers and home winemakers in this country. Now, in this completely new version of that classic, Mr. Wagner takes into account the many dramatic changes that in recent years have revolutionized the American wine scene.With the knowledge ...