American Tradition: A Classic Guide to Regional Cooking

A big, glossy, picture book of American cooking, first published in Great Britain. There are full-page color spreads throughout the tour of the country, and each recipe is accompanied by a color photograph. Regional specialties as diverse as New England Boiled Dinner, Chorizo Enchiladas, and Lomilomi Salad (from Hawaii) are included. Fun to look at, but a luxury item for most collections.-- JS, Library Journal -- Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This glossy tome is the work of three food writers: Clements, The French Way ; MacMillan, Tex-Mex Cooking ; and Lomask, The All-American Cookbook for Non-American Cooks . The book perpetuates many of the most tired cliches of American cooking, from the "dramatic lobster" ("the banner of Maine") to cherry pie. Each section, devoted to a single region, opens with a photographic essay that features sumptuously scenic stock pictures more appropriate to a travel magazine than a cookbook. And many are mislabeled: a Texas cowboy breakfast, replete with sausage, eggs and coffee, is captioned as a "sizzling Texan barbecue," while Montana's Glacier National Park is listed as being in Alaska. Similarly, the logic behind placing recipes in different regions can be misleading: chocolate chip cookies, for example, which originated at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, are ascribed here as from "The Mountains and the Plains."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A big, glossy, picture book of American cooking, first published in Great Britain. There are full-page color spreads throughout the tour of the country, and each recipe is accompanied by a color photograph. Regional specialties as diverse as New England Boiled Dinner, Chorizo Enchiladas, and Lomilomi Salad (from Hawaii) are included. Fun to look at, but a luxury item for most collections.-- JS
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.