Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Brief History of Miracle Whip

Many years ago I did some research at the archives at Duke University, which houses the records for the J. Walter Thompson advertising company, the real-life company Mad Men is based on. I took away huge amounts of information, including … Continue reading

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Book Review: Pandora’s Lunchbox, by Melanie Warner

Pandora’s Lunchbox is an in-depth look at the way processed foods have wormed their way into (for most of us) almost everything we put into our mouths. If it comes out of a package, it probably has an ingredient that … Continue reading

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I wrote a book!

Barbecue: A History is now shipping from the publisher’s web site, which is at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442227545. Thanks for your support.

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Book Review: Richard Wrangham’s Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human

Catching Fire is a well-written book with an interesting thesis but, after reading the book, I can’t quite completely believe the thesis. Wrangham is a primatologist, and his years of studying monkeys surely contributed to his thesis, which is this: … Continue reading

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The Possible Myth of Victorian Vegetables

The Victorians (those people who lived in the mid to late 1800s, particularly in Britain and America) have a bad rep when it comes to cooking vegetables. Check almost any cookbook from the time period and you’ll see recipes advising … Continue reading

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