Book Log 2007 #7: The United States of Arugula by David Kamp

This books seeks to chronicle how, in roughly 50 years, we went from a nation of Jell-O salads and processed everything to one that, while still too happy to buy processed crap, has McDonalds talking about the 16 greens they put in their salad.

It starts with the "Big Three" of post-WWII gourmandism: James Beard, Julia Child, and Craig Claiborne. Kamp tracks how their influence over what Americans ate (and what they read and watched about what they ate) led to a new generation that took the traditional fine dining and took it back to its roots, simplifying technique and presentation while looking for the freshest local ingredients. It's here that we're introduced to Alice Waters, Chez Panisse, and the rise of California cuisine.

It's at this point that the book veers away from the broad analysis of American foodways and into celebrity chef territory as we hop from Waters to Wolfgang Puck to the current crop. There are some side trips (notably organic farming and the rise of specialty stores like Dean & DeLuca), but for the most part the latter half of the book is more about how the top chefs and their restaurants than ways in which their influence trickled down. There is a stab at this at the end with talk of sustainable agriculture and a movement to educate American kids about food during lunch, but there's fertile ground left unsowed.

Still, it was an interesting read. If nothing else it's rekindled an interest in reading bios on Beard and Child.