America Eats or The Presidents Table

America Eats!: On the Road with the WPA - the Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chittlin' Feasts That Define Real American Food

Author: Pat Willard

What the Sterns did for road food, Pat Willard does for festive American group eating in this exploration of our national cuisine, with a never-before-published WPA manuscript as her guide.
In America Eats! Pat Willard takes readers on a journey into the regional nooks and crannies of American cuisine where WPA writers—including Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, and Nelson Algren, among countless others—were dispatched in 1935 to document the roots of our diverse culinary cuisine. With the unpublished WPA manuscript as her guide, Willard visits the sites of American food’s past glory to rediscover the vibrant foundation of America’s traditional cuisine. She visits a booyah cook-off in Minnesota, a political feast in Mississippi, a watermelon festival in Oklahoma, and a sheepherders ball in Idaho, to name a few. Featuring recipes and never-before-seen photos, including those from the WPA by Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and Marion Post Wolcott, America Eats! is a glowing celebration of American food, past and present.

Publishers Weekly

The original America Eats! was written for the WPA by out-of-work writers during the Depression of the 1930s as "an account of group eating as an important American social institution," the development of local, traditional cookery by churches and communities, fairs, festivals, rodeos, fund-raisers, rent parties and the like. It was never completed or published, but when food writer Willard (Secrets of Saffron) found the manuscript in the Library of Congress, she decided to follow the footsteps of the original writers to find what remained of these feasts, or a modern equivalent. The result is an interesting anthology of original WPA writing (most by unknowns, but often lively) and contemporary experience. Willard found Brunswick Stew (historically made with squirrel meat) in North Carolina and Virginia as well as versions of it in Minnesota (booya) and Kentucky (burgoo). Recipes (not always with squirrel) are given. There are still Melon Days in Colorado and Oklahoma, and an Apple Week in Washington State. Fewer homes have kitchen gardens now, and some fair food is distinctly modern (fried Twinkies), but Willard did find a wild-game dinner in Oregon and, of course, barbecue everywhere. Where there were once tobacco farms in traditionally dry Southern counties, Willard, in this engaging book, finds vineyards. (July)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents:

1 The American cauldron 1

2 The big-hearted feast - fund-raising dinners 17

3 The harvest queen - agricultural fairs 47

4 The wild shores - the Northwest 78

5 The groveling season - political gatherings 98

6 A gathering in the woods - national holidays 124

7 At the Lord's table - church suppers 148

8 The undertaker's meal - funeral ceremonies 180

9 Stomping at the post - social club celebrations 197

10 The frontier - Mexicans, Indians, and cowboys 222

11 City life - a walk between then and now 151

12 America eats! now - home from the road, mulling things over 278

Acknowledgments 291

Photo credits 293

List of recipes 295

Index 297

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The President's Table: 200 Years of Dining and Diplomacy

Author: Barry H Landau

THE PRESIDENT'S TABLE: 200 Years of Dining & Diplomacy, by Barry H. Landau, is a sweeping visual history of the American Presidency, as seen through Presidential entertaining from George Washington to George W. Bush. Landau is a presidential historian and one of the foremost collectors of presidential memorabilia and artifacts. He has served eight Presidents and worked with every White House since Lyndon Johnson planning historic events, and has been a frequent network commentator on matters relating to the Presidency and White House protocol.

In this lavishly illustrated history of Presidential dining, Landau brings the back-story of the American Presidency to life. Interweaving stories of dining and diplomacy, he creates a spellbinding narrative from the early days of provincial entertaining in the capital, through the golden era of sumptuous state banquets, to the modern White House dinners of today.

For the very first time, THE PRESIDENT'S TABLE will present the names of every Presidential and White House chef, cook, chief usher and steward. The book will take the reader inside the White House kitchens and reveal an exclusive first time glimpse into the President's personal refrigerator. The magnificent menus and invitations shown on the pages of this book are true works of art done on silk, leather, copper, silver and gold. Landau's collection presented in this unique manner for the first time acknowledges the printers, engravers, and artists who masterfully designed the art of the President's table.

With more than 300 never before seen illustrations from Landau's personal collections, THE PRESIDENT'S TABLEprovides an insightful and entertaining look at our dining habits as the nation grew through social and economic change. The book reveals the parallel growth of the United States and its Chief Executives and the diplomatic and political interests served along with Presidential meals.

"Landau moves on the axis that spins between Washington, New York, and Hollywood," says Larry Bird, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, "using his social connections to build the most extensive collection of Presidential memorabilia outside of the Smithsonian, the National Archives or the Presidential libraries."

THE PRESIDENT'S TABLE will fascinate anyone with an interest in American history and politics.

Lisa A. Ennis - Library Journal

An avid collector and student of the realia of presidential history, Landau offers up reproductions of hundreds of pieces from his own collection of menus and related artifacts documenting presidential entertaining at the White House, from the first George to the current one. The rich narrative and illustrations result in an opulent and intimate approach to presidential history by a man who has consulted on matters of protocol and entertaining with many presidents. The book is divided into three parts: Washington to Lincoln, Andrew Johnson to McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Each president receives his own chapter, offering highlights of the dining and the diplomacy that took place hand in hand. The result is an eclectic and novel look at our chief executives and the evolving trends in presidential protocol and politics-not to mention the food! While the book is fascinating and visually appealing-the customized menus for White House dinners have always been special, and here Landau cites their artists, engravers, and printers-its greater appeal will be as a coffee-table offering than a history book: historians will be frustrated by the lack of notes or an index. The book does include a list of suggested further reading, however, as well as a full compilation-apparently the first ever- of all presidential chefs, cooks, chief ushers, and stewards. Recommended for public libraries.

What People Are Saying

Arthur Schlessinger Jr.
"The President's Table offers menus that serve as storytellers of a young nation rife with social and economic change, while reflecting the growth and expansion of a burgeoning American Presidency. Barry Landau weaves these previously missing links of Presidential history into a fascinating tapestry and narrative of Presidential lore."

Henry A. Kissinger
"Landau escorts the reader to the Head Table at State Dinners, from George Washington to George W. Bush, and provides a social history that is great fun to read."

Mike Wallace
"The President's Table brings to life an intriguing backstory of the American Presidency: how our Presidents and First Ladies have traditionally mixed diplomacy with dining. Barry Landau presents a unique perspective on American history and presidential politics."

Henry Haller
"The President's Table presents the reader with historical Presidential menus, some of which I have prepared during my twenty-two years as executive chef at the White House. Barry Landau's collection reflects the changing entertaining styles of each Presidential administration. It is interesting to see how the menus have changed over the years."