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A review by mallorycarson
A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression by Andrew Coe, Jane Ziegelman
3.0
Review: 3.5 stars
I chose this book for my Book Riot Read Harder challenge category "a book about politics." I wasn't sure if it was really qualify as politics before I started but I just couldn't find one I wanted to read. However, once I got in to it, there were a lot of discussions about politics and how the government played a pretty large role in influence our diet.
This book captures the culinary history of the Great Depression, starting with World War I, and taking us through the start of World War II. I'll admit, it was pretty fascinating. I did not know a lot about our food culture during this time and honestly how the Great Depression sort of started a lot of the food stamp and other welfare programs we have today. It was interesting to read about how vastly different these programs were than they are today. This book also included a lot of recipes, photos, and real accounts from that time that added a lot of realness to the book.
Though I found a lot of the book interesting, it was pretty dry and somewhat unorganized. It was twelve chapters long that sort of had a chronology to it but a lot of times it jumped back and forth to a lot of different topics and didn't quite follow a straight line. It had a lot to say and a lot to cover and I feel like it could have been packaged better than it was.
Overall, 3.5/5. Interesting read with a ton of facts with semi-decent execution. Worth a read though if you're interested in food or the Great Depression.
I chose this book for my Book Riot Read Harder challenge category "a book about politics." I wasn't sure if it was really qualify as politics before I started but I just couldn't find one I wanted to read. However, once I got in to it, there were a lot of discussions about politics and how the government played a pretty large role in influence our diet.
This book captures the culinary history of the Great Depression, starting with World War I, and taking us through the start of World War II. I'll admit, it was pretty fascinating. I did not know a lot about our food culture during this time and honestly how the Great Depression sort of started a lot of the food stamp and other welfare programs we have today. It was interesting to read about how vastly different these programs were than they are today. This book also included a lot of recipes, photos, and real accounts from that time that added a lot of realness to the book.
Though I found a lot of the book interesting, it was pretty dry and somewhat unorganized. It was twelve chapters long that sort of had a chronology to it but a lot of times it jumped back and forth to a lot of different topics and didn't quite follow a straight line. It had a lot to say and a lot to cover and I feel like it could have been packaged better than it was.
Overall, 3.5/5. Interesting read with a ton of facts with semi-decent execution. Worth a read though if you're interested in food or the Great Depression.