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107 reviews for:
A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression
Andrew Coe, Jane Ziegelman
3.66 AVERAGE
107 reviews for:
A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression
Andrew Coe, Jane Ziegelman
3.66 AVERAGE
It's hard to find a more interesting topic than food and its place on our culture and society. This book takes on food preparation and varieties actually starting in World War I and leading up to the Great Depression. It's an ambitious topic as there's a lot of variance in how different groups and especially economic classes are able to eat (or not eat). As such, I did find this a bit disjointed at times but always interesting. There are sample recipes--none of which I want to try. However, it does make me more sensitive to some the food fads we have today. I rather think most come down to 'marketing tactics' then as is true now. This book also does a fine job of supporting the benefits of providing government assistance to those unable to provide for themselves. In addition to the simple ethical considerations, many recruits for both WWI and WWII did not pass physicals to be able to enter military service due to malnutrition. (I think poor education was an issue too but not the point of this book.)
Ziegelman and Coe write a detailed and steeped text that looks at every fascet of American cuisine just before and during the Depression. While a riveting read, it's hard to miss the fact that they will often write an entire chapter's worth of recipes, and only have a sentence or two mentioning that things were just "different" for blacks at the time.
Like some of the other reviewers, I read this expecting more of a culinary history. The title is something of a misread, but on further reflection perhaps it makes sense. Ziegelman does a good job of providing the context and ends up delving into multiple angles: politics, social reform, home economics, and the history of nutrition. It's all interesting, but slow going at times.
Fascinating and engaging. Would make a great book club title.
While I found the concept intriguing, I found myself left wanting more often than I'd like. Some of the blame is to be laid squarely on me as reader; I simply don't think I had strong enough background knowledge to catch some of the subtleties. Other times, the authors skimmed over concepts and ideas too quickly. I kept finding myself wanting to shout, "assumes facts not in evidence!" A good read but not exactly a page turner.
My special interest is the evolution of food culture in the west particularly in America and how that ties into our perceptions on morality, beauty, etc. This book covers one of my favorite time periods for food culture transition in the U.S. and did a really great job going through many of the contributing factors to these huge cultural and culinary shifts at the time. I adored this book so much. I listened to the audiobook version on 2x speed and just tore through it it’s so engrossing.
JANE HAS DONE IT AGAIN. I thought 97 Orchard Street was phenomenal and I was blessed to discover she had written another book. Culinary history is so rich and fascinating and Jane does an immersive job of bringing it to life.
3.5 stars
This book isn’t compelling or fast paced but I still found parts interesting. I was surprised at how little political and social ideologies have changed.
This book isn’t compelling or fast paced but I still found parts interesting. I was surprised at how little political and social ideologies have changed.
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced