Sarah Lohman

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

Slow Foods International has complied a catalog of important regional foods and food-production procedures that are endangered around the world. Culinary historian Sarah Lohman explores select items from that list, traveling around America to find out the real history of the food and how it's being kept alive today.

The trip is absolutely fascinating. Her tone is personable, the subject matter immersive. She's frank about how things such as climate change, colonialism, and capitalism have impacted which foods are popular and which ones die off.

In California's Coachella Valley, she examines how dates came to the state, how it was advertised using Arabic fantasy and biblical motifs, and how the industry gets by today. In Hawaii, she visited modern farms that continue to grow sugar cane, and discusses how canes came to Hawaii and how the sugar industry has changed through white settlement to only recently cease, and how people are trying to perpetuate older varieties of sugar cane.

She roams Navajo lands to butcher Navajo-Churro sheep and meets the Dine who raise and respect the animals who mean much to their people. Among the Lummi in Puget Sound, she sees what traditional reef net fishing is like and how Indigenous people are continuing the fight, legally and culturally, to catch salmon. In the Upper Midwest, she joins tribal members as they harvest manoomin, often branded as wild rice, and shines a light on environmental shifts in the region.

Apple cider has waned in popularity and prevalence over the centuries as religious and cultural norms have shifted, and today people are making a concerted effort to rediscover "lost apples" across America. The Choctaw people introduced sassafras powder to the Creoles of Louisiana, and today very few people continue the old ways of creating file powder for use in dishes such as gumbo. Free Black women sold groundnut cakes on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, in the 19th century and into the 20th, and now people are trying to bring back heirloom peanuts such as Carolina Runner.

This is a book that will make you think. Past and perpetuated injustices will make you angry--but the way that people are trying to preserve foods, preserve their history and culture, will also make you grateful. Also: this is a book that will make you HUNGRY. Ultimately, the tale is one that encourages conservation so that these foods and their methods can continue to be eaten, enjoyed, and respected.… (lisätietoja)

An interesting look at eight different flavors from a food history perspective. Each flavor has a chapter of its own and is arranged chronologically based on when it became ubiquitous in American kitchens and cuisine (with the last still being new and perhaps not quite as commonplace yet) : black pepper, vanilla, chili powder, curry powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and sriracha. Lohman also includes some recipes in each chapter, a few of which I'd like to try.

I found most interesting the discussions of cultural attitudes towards the flavors and their associated cuisines when they were still considered new to America. MSG, for instance, is much maligned to this day and is even blamed for "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". Would it have earned its reputation if it was used in another country's cuisine instead?… (lisätietoja)

An enjoyable and informative read, examining the eight flavours of the title and the history of their journeys to ubiquity in the US. It finds an odd but not unpleasant balance in tone, sometimes scholarly, sometimes unexpectedly dipping into pop culture references and the vernacular. The stories themselves are an interesting mix of food science, social history and cookery.
Eight Flavors gets a bit of narrative punch by writing up champions of each flavour: like Edmond Albius, the young slave who discovered the method of hand-pollinating vanilla, or Sadie Thornhill, chili queen.
It's a little disappointing, as a reader from outside of the US, to lack the connection to any of the many local eateries and many of the culinary trends depicted. Some of these flavours have a very different history and resonance elsewhere. Can't blame the author for any of that though.
I've tried a few of the recipes here and had no spectacular misfires, although the entire 250g stick of butter in the Country Captain Chicken was probably, on reflection, a bit extravagant.… (lisätietoja)