Donna R. Gabaccia, a professor of American history, explores how ethnicity has influenced the eating habits of Americans and determines that America is "not a multi-ethnic nation, but a nation of multi-ethnics." Can a country that eats bagel dogs and Thai chicken pizza still find ways to preserve the "original" foods of its immigrants? Is this even a worthwhile task, if the immigrants themselves are eager to assimilate into the larger culture, and the food industry is just as eager to co-opt (and, Gabaccia notes, water down) their native cuisine? Through case studies and anecdotal accounts, Gabaccia takes a look at the state of American cuisine and the curious culinary situation that allows SpaghettiOs to remain a venerable lunchtime standard at the same time that many restaurants strive to produce an "authentic" Milanese risotto. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

How did enclaves of immigrants obtain the foods to which they were accustomed in their new homes in America? How did pasta, tacos, and bagels move from ethnic fare to popular American foods? These are the types of questions Gabaccia (American history, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte) addresses in this well-researched and thoroughly documented volume. Through case studies and anecdotal records she traces the way immigrant groups, from Colonial times to the present, maintained their culinary identity in spite of efforts to Americanize them. Concurrently, entrepreneurs succeeded in mainstreaming many of these same ethnic foods into American households and culture. Gabaccia concludes that we are "not a multi-ethnic nation, but a nation of multi-ethnics." For culinary history and social history collections. (Index not seen.)ASherry Feintuch, East Shore Lib., Harrisburg, PA

Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.