Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine

The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population which makes for a continually changing culinary landscape. But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. In Eight Flavors, Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table. Eight Flavors introduces the explorers, merchants, botanists, farmers, writers, and chefs whose choices came to define the American palate. Lohman takes you on a journey through the past to tell us something about our present, and our future. We meet John Crowninshield a New England merchant who traveled to Sumatra in the 1790s in search of black pepper and Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old slave who lived on an island off the coast of Madagascar, who discovered the technique still used to pollinate vanilla orchids today. Weaving together original research, historical recipes, and Lohman's own adventures both in the kitchen and in the field, Eight Flavors is a delicious treat--ready to be devoured.

About the Author :
Sarah Lohman is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where she began working in a museum at the age of sixteen, cooking historic food over a wood-burning stove. Sarah moved to New York in 2006 to work for New York magazine's food blog, Grub Street, and now works with museums and galleries around the city to create public programs focused on food. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR, and she has appeared in NYC-TV's mini-series Appetite City cooking culinary treats from New York's past. The author of a twice-monthly food feature for Etsy called Kitchen Histories, Eight Flavors is her first book. Sarah Lohman is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where she began working in a museum at the age of sixteen, cooking historic food over a wood-burning stove. Sarah moved to New York in 2006 to work for New York magazine's food blog, Grub Street, and now works with museums and galleries around the city to create public programs focused on food. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR, and she has appeared in NYC-TV's mini-series Appetite City cooking culinary treats from New York's past. The author of a twice-monthly food feature for Etsy called Kitchen Histories, Eight Flavors is her first book.

Review :

"Historical gastronomist Sarah Lohman narrates her well-researched examination of how eight flavors made their way from the far-flung corners of the world to the cupboards of almost every American kitchen. Lohman's clear diction is easy to understand, and her pronunciation of non-English names and terms has an authentic sound as she reveals the influence that politics, exploration, immigration, and socioeconomics have had on the transition of particular spices, such as black pepper, from the exotic to mainstream acceptance...Historic and classic recipes are included."