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(as of Mar 21, 2025 11:30:11 UTC – Details)
What is American cuisine? What national menu do we share? What dishes have we chosen, how did they become “American”, and how are they likely to evolve from here? In Food Americana, David Page answers all these questions and more.
America is more than just a fast food nation. Food Americana is the inside story of how generations of Americans have formed a national cuisine with tastes from all over the world. Fried chicken was a distinctly Southern dish – now it’s the Sunday night special at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood. A Utah restaurant won Maine’s annual Best Lobster Roll competition. And perhaps the ultimate all-American dish, pizza, is served up in 30 different styles, a total of three billion pies a year, an average of 23 pounds for each of us.
Food Americana is an engaging and entertaining combination of food culture and pop culture, nostalgia and the newest food obsessions. Creating Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and hands-on producing its first 11 seasons gave food journalist David Page an appetite for the world of American food. It is that experience, the discoveries of little-known stories and facts, that led him to dig even deeper and tie the strands together now.
Customers say
Customers find the book informative and enjoyable to read with fun food trivia. They describe it as a good resource for foodies with well-written content.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
SGB –
A âmust readâ for every foodie!
Oh wow, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! As a fan of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives I was immediately interested in Food Americana and then after reading Davidâs passionate words about the simple subject of pizza, I was completely hooked. Itâs not a secret that thereâs a LOT that people disagree on but there certainly is one thing that can bring people together: food. David Page clearly knows that and uses his expertise and education to show how food and cuisine have been bringing people together since the dawn of time. I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone who loves food (so, everyone)!
Kate Costello –
Fun food bites
Fun info on things we eat
Candy –
A very entertaining and fun read.
I was really interested in learning about the history of many ethnic cuisines that had gotten established in the US, but found it to be a fun read. The anecdotes and the interviews made it lively, and it became more of a page-turner that I expected it to be. The author really caused the chapters to flow from one to the next. I just wish there were a few more chapters.
HopewelLibraryofLife –
Where’s the steak?
My Interest
This sounded like a fun, foodie treat! It was available in audio on Net Galley so I took it.
The Story
Food-TV personality Dave Page takes us on a culinary tour of Americaâs favorite foods. Barbecue, burgers, sushi, Chinese food, ice cream, pizza, and moreâall the stuff Americans love to stuff our faces with on a regular basis. The chapters end with a recipe, but along the way, we meet local personalities who dominate the market with their food. From a shack barbecue joint to a lobster truck to Ben & Jerry, we meet a colorful cast of food-loving entrepreneurs, food producers, fishermen, chefs, and more. We come to know a brief history of the food, how it has evolved, and who does it well. From a Purdue University favorite burger place with peanut butter and pickles atop the patty, to the best Po Boy shop in New Orleansâand Iâd love to road trip âem all! (Bow could he pick that Purdue place [asks the IU grad, child of two Purdue grads] and IGNORE The Working Manâs Friend in Indianapolis in the burger chapter? How? IU gets in the story with an amazing Chinese restaurant selling both American and âChinese-Chineseâ food).
My Thoughts
There were a few curious omissions thoughâespecially in the last chapter on ice cream. No mentions of the frozen custard or soft serve industry and no mention of either Howard Johnsonâs or Baskin Robbins. My Dad once ran an ice cream and milk plant for a dairy company in the years Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerryâs were getting into our bloodstream. He also sold ice cream mix to Dairy Queens and similar outfits. These were curious omissions. Root Beer Stands were another curious omission or even just drive-ins. I suppose he covered those enough on tv?
Bagels and sushi were great additions to the lineup, I love both, but how could he have omitted the great American steak and steak houses? That is almost a sacrilegious omission! No mention of a nice thick, rare steak, baked potato with butter and sour cream, and a wedge salad with blue cheese dressing? No Heinz vs A-1 vs no sauce? Or, no todayâs version with hot rolls slathered in cinnamon butter and the potato loaded to the gills with bacon, cheddar, and green onions (if desired)? (But, thankfully, no praise for the modern obsession with creamed spinach as a steak side dish!) No pan-seared versus open flame-grilled? No seasoned vs plain old butter? Lowry’s famous seasoned salt vs in-house seasoning blend? Fried chicken and chicken wings both get their own chapter but nary a hotdog or a bratwurst to be found! And, here I was listening in baseball season!! No onions and mustard vs straight ketchup? Not a string of kraut or a scoop of chili? And, where was chili?? And chocolate chip cookies? Nowhere. Nada on muffins, too. These were puzzling.
There was no wrap-up at the endâit just ended after the ice cream recipe. In spite of this and the steak omission, this was a fun book, its story well told in entertaining prose that kept my attention throughout. I listened to the audio version which was great.
Readerwith opinions –
Oh yeah! American foodies need to read this.
What’s not to like about this book? A fun and informative read and well written!
DiverseInterests –
Interesting tour through iconic and uniquely American foods
Interesting stories about where some of our American iconic and idiosyncratic foods started and how they spread through the country
James Pappas III –
Fun read
Fun read
Raymond L. Payne –
There is great good food out there in the AmericasAmericas
A quick guide of what to eat well in the America’s and where to find it quickly.