Food and Drink in American History: A "Full Course" Encyclopedia

The first two volumes of Smith's (culinary history, New School Univ.; Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love To Eat) work contain 664 subject articles ("Appetizers," "High-Fructose Corn Syrup," "Kentucky Fried Chicken," "Cyrus Hall McCormick," and "Scandinavian American Food"), 285 of which are paired with a relevant historical recipe. While the articles focus mainly on specific foods and beverages, additional topics are explored, such as those about people, larger categories of food, food trends, and ethnic/holiday/historical cuisine. There are extensive cross-references, including references to primary sources located in the final volume—a welcome touch. A bibliography finalizes each entry. These articles are readable and compact yet full of information. The final volume contains 129 primary source documents related to food history from 1539 to 2010, a glossary, and six appendixes, the last of which lists universities with food studies programs. The volume closes with the expected bibliography and index (the same one in each volume). Smith was editor in chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2004; updated in 2012). The updated Oxford offers 1,400 entries in three volumes, and those libraries owning the Oxford, particularly the 2012 update, may find it unnecessary to purchase the ABC-CLIO volume.