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Title

• Kitchen Literacy

Author

• Ann Vileisis

Publisher

• Island Press

Kitchen Literacy

How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need to Get It Back

Overview

From the publisher

Ask children where food comes from, and they’ll probably answer, “The supermarket.” Ask most adults, and their replies may not be much different. We know remarkably little about what we eat. Where our foods are raised and what happens to them between farm and supermarket shelf have become mysteries. How did we become so disconnected from the sources of our beef, cheeses, cereal, lettuce, and countless other foods that nourish us every day?

Ann Vileisis’s answer is a sensory-rich journey through the history of making dinner. From 18th-century gardens and historic cookbooks to calculated advertising campaigns and sleek supermarket aisles, Kitchen Literacy chronicles profound changes in how Americans have shopped, cooked, and thought about their foods through two centuries.

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Kitchen history