The American Ethnic Cookbook For Students: (Cookbooks for Students) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was born to write this book, was fortunate enough to get the contract, and now you can share the fun! It contains a short profile and 2-6 recipes for each of 122 ethnic groups in the United States. The recipes are almost entirely verbatim from church and community cookbooks, internet exchanges, and my files of almost 30 years as a food journalist. The publisher, Oryx Press, wanted a reference book for middle-school and high school students doing assignments in social studies, modern languages, local history, US history, multicultural studies, and those "Roots" assignments that are so popular these days. But I think this book will be delightful reading for anyone interested in roots and other peoples' roots. It's also a very good cookbook -- unlike the clever inventions of chefs, these are proven family recipes, and surprisingly healthful. The book sticks to supermarket ingredients, and the recipes have a range of difficulty. Some of the recipes with a lot of steps, such as
the stack cakes of Icelandic-Americans, Scotch-Irish-Americans, and Melungeons, make good class or group projects.
Speaking of Melungeons, the book contains some small and little known ethnic groups, including rare recipes from Gypsy-Americans, Vlach-Americans, and Garifuna; ethno-religious groups like the Mormons and the Black Muslims; groups that formed in the United States, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch and the New Mexico Hispanics; the ten largest Indian tribes (and 12 smaller Native groups); and almost all immigrant groups with more than 100,000 descendants on the 1990 Census Ancestry Survey.
From the Acadians (Cajuns) to the Zuni, from Amish Church Peanut Butter Spread to Zazich and Zgance, from breakfast dishes to midnight snacks, this is a wild anthology of the many delicious ways American cooks have held onto group identities while bringing traditional dishes into American lifestyles.
You have never read a cookbook like this before, and you may never see one another like it until I finish The American Historical Cookbook for Students next year.--Mark

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