Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink - Hardcover

Best Reference Book of the Year (Library Journal (1983))

Filled with information to intrigue and inform the scholar, the trivia buff, and the cook. (The New York Times on the 1983 edition)

Reveals just how much American cookery has changed over the last ten years... This remains a valuable and unique reference. And, with entries on such diverse topics as airline food, lunch counters, and candy bars, it's fun to read, too. An essential purchase. (Library Journal on the 1994 edition)

Making sense of Italian food's history is no small undertaking, but like any true professional, longtime Esquire food correspondent and legendary restaurant columnist Mariani handles the subject with ease... Readers will be salivating. (Booklist on How Italian Food Conquered the World)

It catches readers up on more than a decade of culinary evolution and innovation, from molecular cuisine and the rise of the Food Network to the local food fraze, from the DIY movement to the food truck culture. (Lexington Herald Leader)

This volume is entertaining and enlightening, suitable for any food historian or home cook who is interested in having an easy guide to the foods of the U.S. and quick access to the most authentic recipes for classic dishes and drinks. (Elaine Lindstrom Booklist)

John Mariani's classic tome has been updated to reflect the USA's changing culinary landscape, from molecular gastronomy to the DIY movement. (Gayot.com)

First published in 1983, John Mariani's Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink has long been the go-to book on all things culinary. Last updated in the late 1990s, it is now back in a handsome, fully illustrated revised and expanded edition that catches readers up on more than a decade of culinary evolution and innovation: from the rise of the Food Network to the local food craze; from the DIY movement, with sausage stuffers, hard cider brewers, and pickle makers on every Brooklyn or Portland street corner; to the food truck culture that proliferates in cities across the country. Whether high or low food culture, there's no question American food has changed radically in the last fourteen years, just as the market for it has expanded exponentially. In addition to updates on food trends and other changes to American gastronomy since 1999, for the first time the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink will include biographical entries, both historical and contemporary, from Fanny Farmer and Julia Child to the Galloping Gourmet and James Beard to current high-profile players Mario Batali and Danny Meyer, among more than one hundred others. And no gastronomic encyclopedia would be complete without recipes. Mariani has included five hundred classics, from Hard Sauce to Scrapple, Baked Alaska to Blondies. An American Larousse Gastronomique, John Mariani's completely up-to-date encyclopedia will be a welcome acquisition for a new generation of food lovers.