Janelle C. (jscrappy) reviewed The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food--Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal on + 59 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted to--but that's not to say it's not a worthwhile read. Kurlansky has pulled together excerpts from "America Eats," which was the last work of the Federal Writers Project, and which never really got off the ground, as it was started in the last days of the Depression, and completely derailed by the start of WW II.
So the excerpts, which make up most of the book, are wildly varied in style and skill--some parts of the country are covered in detail and others not at all, depending on how active the FWP was in those regions by 1940-41.
Kurlansky's introduction (the first 20 pages or so) is entertaining and informative, and some of the "America Eats" pieces are great (I especially enjoyed one short piece that described lunch at a Horn and Hardart automat, an experience I would have liked to have had.) I'd recommend getting this one out of the library as opposed to buying it, unless you're very, very interested in the history/folklore of American food.
So the excerpts, which make up most of the book, are wildly varied in style and skill--some parts of the country are covered in detail and others not at all, depending on how active the FWP was in those regions by 1940-41.
Kurlansky's introduction (the first 20 pages or so) is entertaining and informative, and some of the "America Eats" pieces are great (I especially enjoyed one short piece that described lunch at a Horn and Hardart automat, an experience I would have liked to have had.) I'd recommend getting this one out of the library as opposed to buying it, unless you're very, very interested in the history/folklore of American food.
