A review by jocelynw
Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America by Thomas J. Craughwell

3.0

I enjoyed learning the culinary details about Jefferson's time in France that exist, but this, in toto, was a bit thinner and more conjectural than what I was hoping for. This'd be great supplementary reading at the high school or college level, but if you've read a lot of food history, it will almost certainly fall short of your expectations. Funnily, the appendix is the most informative - short chapters on Jefferson as wine connoisseur, his love of vegetables, and African foods at Monticello. If the whole book had followed that format, I think it could have been accomplished in half the pages and not have felt so stretched. TJ, would it have killed you to Instagram dinner once in a while? It really would have helped.