The Ark of Taste: Delicious and Distinctive Foods That Define the United States

James Beard Award and IACP Cookbook Award finalist • Explore and enjoy the heritage foods that give the United States its culinary identity, from heirloom tomatoes to Tupelo honey, in this illustrated volume for curious eaters,  gardeners and home cooks.

The Ark of Taste is a living catalog of our nation's food heritage preserving treasures passed down for generations—some rare, some endangered, all delicious.

Created by Slow Food USA, the Ark shines light on history, identity, and taste through these unique food products, featuring recipes and the stories of how they reach our tables In these pages you'll learn about:

• Carolina Gold rice
• Wellfleet oysters
• Cherokee Purple tomatoes
• The Moon and Stars watermelon
• Black Republican cherries
• Candy Roaster squash, and more

These foods reflect our country's diversity. By championing them, we keep them in production and on our plates, while promoting a more equitable alternative to industrial agriculture.

The Ark of Taste is a vital resource for all of us who spend the summer searching for that perfectly ripe peach or heirloom tomato—or who are simply looking for the next good thing to eat. 
 

David S. Shields is the Carolina Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Science, University of South Carolina and chairman of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. He also chairs Slow Food's Ark of Taste Committee for the South. In 2018, Shields was awarded Slow Foods USA's Snailblazer Award for biodiversity. His other books include Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine; The Culinarians: Lives and Careers from the First Age of American Fine Dining, and Taste the States: South Carolina's Signature Foods, Recipes, and Their Stories, co-written with Kevin Mitchell. He lives in South Carolina.

Giselle Kennedy Lord holds a master's degree in gastronomy from Boston University and was named James Beard National Scholar Northwest in 2018. Giselle became enamored with the Ark of Taste while working as the director of communications for Slow Food USA, where she championed the preservation of food culture and the importance of biodiversity. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Claudia Pearson has been illustrating her entire life and her work has been published internationally in magazines such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Elle and Travel & Leisure, as well as in her award-winning children’s book, Tribal Alphabet.

Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how food choices affect the world. Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food.