The Arkansas Center for the Book is pleased to share our Great Reads selection for Adults: US History in 15 Foods by Anna Zeide (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023). “From whiskey in the American Revolution to Spam in WWII, food reveals a great deal about the society in which it exists. Selecting 15 foods that represent key moments in the history of the United States, this book takes readers from before European colonization to the present, narrating major turning points along the way, with food as a guide.”
Dr. Anna Zeide is Associate Professor of History and the founding director of the Food Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences at Virginia Tech University. She grew up in southeast Arkansas. Watch Anna talk about US History in 15 Foods as well as the 2023 National Book Festival theme “Everyone Has a Story” in the Great Reads: Central 2 Adult video.
Central 2 Adult Video
Running Time: 39 minutes 39 seconds
Introduction by Michael Pearce, director of the Alabama Center for the Book, and featuring Marcia Edwina Herman-Giddens, author of “Unloose My Heart: A Personal Reckoning With the Twisted Roots of My Southern Family Tree” (chosen by Alabama Center for the Book); Anna Zeide, author of “US History in 15 Foods” (chosen by Arkansas Center for the Book); Silas House, author of “Lark Ascending” (chosen by Kentucky Center for the Book); Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of “The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You” (chosen by Louisiana Center for the Book); Katy Simpson Smith, author of “The Weeds” (chosen by Mississippi Center for the Book); Vivian Gibson, author of “The Last Children of Mill Creek” (chosen by Missouri Center for the Book); Julia Bryan Thomas, author of “For Those Who Are Lost” (chosen by Oklahoma Center for the Book); and Ann Patchett, author of “Tom Lake” (chosen by Tennessee Center for the Book). The featured authors discuss their books, the states that selected them, and address the theme of this year’s National Book Festival: “Everyone Has a Story.”
