The Turkey: An American Story
ISBN: 9780252092428
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / University of Illinois Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Turkeys -- United States -- History; Cookery (Turkey);

Food historian Smith, editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, discusses both fact and myth in this thorough and multifaceted history of the turkey. Smith believes the quintessentially American bird (we consume 240 million of them a year) can tell us about cultural issues and reveal something about being American. Dividing the book into a section on the turkey's history and another on historical recipes, the author hopes to give a comprehensive accounting of the bird. Beginning with a scientific description, the historical section covers turkey bones found in North America dating to 3700 B.C., then moves on to the introduction of domesticated turkeys into Europe by explorers of the New World. Methods of cooking from the 16th through the 19th centuries and efforts to preserve the disappearing wild turkey in the early 20th century follow. Even the turkey trot gets a mention. Short chapter sections keep the reading flowing, but the eye-glazing number of facts and dry prose can be overwhelming. Still, Smith has produced a well-researched, comprehensive, though somewhat scattered account of the bird most people take for granted. 22 photos. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Andrew F. Smith is a freelance writer who teaches culinary history and professional food writing at the New School in Manhattan. He is the author of many books, including The Tomato in America , The Peanut and coauthor of Real American Food . He is the editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia on Food and Drink in America and serves as the Chair of The Culinary Trust, the philanthropic arm of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP).


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