The reviews have begun to trickle in for Michael Pollan's latest food tome. Laura Shapiro had some interesting things to say in Slate.
MY LATEST BOOK
Pre-order your copy of Bet the Farm now. Out October 2012. “This story should have been on the front page of the New York Times.”
– Jami Floyd, Political Analyst, MSNBC “It’s on the reading list for my NYU classes.”
– Marion Nestle, author of Why Calories Count and Food Politics “'Eating is an agricultural act,’ as Wendell Berry said, but Frederick Kaufman shows, undeniably, that it is an economic act as well.”
– Dan Barber, chef, author, activist “Kaufman makes a convincing and terrifying case that the same merchant bankers who destroyed our housing market–and economy–five years ago are at it again. This time their target is the world’s food supply.”
– Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland
Now available in paperback.
Winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Award, "Best Culinary History Book, 2008."
A Short History of the American Stomach
The extremes of American eating—our urge to stuff and to starve ourselves—are easy to blame on the excesses of modern living. But, we’ve been this way all along. From the secret history of Puritan purges to interviews with Amish black-market raw-milk dealers, this is the story of America told by way of the American stomach. "Kaufman’s witty historical analysis will be a treat for anyone interested in food."
- Time Out New York "For the foodie on your gift list."
- Zagat.com "A hip, journalistic approach to America's all-consuming relationship to the gut, from Puritan rituals of fasting to the creation of the Food Network."
- Publisher's Weekly "Brilliant. Original. Inspirational."
- NPR's Kitchen Sisters “Gourmets and gourmands alike will savor Kaufman’s keen, caustic anatomy of the American palate.”
—Kirkus Reviews “Who knew that Cotton Mather was America’s first food faddist or Benjamin Franklin our founding foodie? I loved every chapter of Kaufman’s book. American history has never been so much fun.”
—Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat “A Short History of the American Stomach gives us something fresh, mixing erudition and passion with a tempered, lean, accurate prose that never misses its beats and never compromises a witty economy of style. Petronius would be proud.”
—Lawrence Osborne, author of The Accidental Connoisseur “Kaufman makes brilliant use of humor and history to expose American's bipolar relationship with food. This is the book to read if you want to understand why, generation after generation, we doggedly persist in dividing edibles into good and bad, healthy and deadly, alternately stuffing then depriving ourselves, worshiping processed foods one year and organic the next, ad nauseam.”
—Barry Glassner, author of The Gospel of Food
OTHER BOOKS
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009
Includes "Wasteland"Slice of Life: Contemporary Writers on Food
Includes "The Triumph of American Gastrosophy," a piece I wrote about the history of American diet book mania.- Everything That Lives, Eats
I wrote the lead essay for this collection of food photography. - About Men: Reflections on the Male Experience
I'm in this anthology - Frederick Kaufman: Forty-Two Days and Nights on the Iberian Peninsula With Anis Ladron
Frederick Kaufman: Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Photographs and Memories
« November 2007 | Main | January 2008 »
December 2007
December 31, 2007
December 28, 2007
Giant Artichoke
As the AmericanStomach continues to traverse the wilds California's fertile crescent . . . past Gilroy (über-garlic land) and Hollister (home of the world famous Casa de Fruta) . . . came across The Giant Artichoke, and stopped for twenty divine chunks of deep-fried hearts.
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December 25, 2007
Roast Beast
Merry Christmas to all. And just in case you still haven't decided what's for dinner, AmericanStomach offers the following suggestion.
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December 22, 2007
Spirit of the Meat
AmericanStomach beat reporter Mellissa Seecharan has brought Meatpaper Magazine to the attention of this blog. If anyone out there (aside from me) has an interest in kosher slaughter, the time has come for a new magazine subscription.
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December 20, 2007
Super Baby Food
Only in America could we possibly imagine toddler hors'doeuvres. But Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food has paved the way. (I should add that today's Super Baby is, of course, a vegetarian.)
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December 19, 2007
Elephant Stew
Food ethnographer Cara De Silva has reported the following recipe to the listserve of the Association for the Study of Food and Society. I do not have a source for warthog yet, but will pursue this matter.
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December 17, 2007
Musical Cheese
If you thought American food advertising was nuts, check out this mind-boggling musical number from Italy.
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December 14, 2007
Partridge and Pottage
If you're not exactly looking forward to Christmas dinner at the in-laws, a glance at Christmas dinners from America's past may provide solace. Then again, honey flummery and filbert pudding (1769) doesn't sound so bad. Especially after a few shots of grog.
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December 13, 2007
Vegan Holidays
Veteran Vegan and AmericanStomach blogger Mellissa Seecharan has the following suggestions for meatless, cheeseless, Christmas Dinner.
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December 12, 2007
Frontiers of Advertising
In its never-ending drive towards global dominance, McDonald's has unlocked yet another private space in which to wedge the gospel of the Happy Meal: Johnny's Report Card!
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Frederick Kaufman
- The food journalist who went looking for a slice of pizza and ended up on Wall Street.
I have written about American food culture and other subjects for Harper's Magazine, the New Yorker, Gourmet, Gastronomica, and the New York Times Magazine, among others. I've been a freelancer for years, and published something like one-hundred magazine articles, along with four books. I'm a contributing editor at Harper's, and teach at the City University of New York and CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism. Born in LA, I live in New York.
Follow Me
ARTICLES
- The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away With It
Harper's, June 2010 - Let Them Eat Cash
Let Them Eat Cash: Can Bill Gates Turn Hunger Into Profit? (Harper's cover story, June 2009) - THE NUCLEOTIDAL WAVE: The Front Line of Mutant Food
GMO gone gonzo. (VICE, The Technology Issue 2009) - Wasteland: A journey through the American cloaca
Selected for Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2008. (Harper's, Feb. 2008, .pdf) - They Eat What We Are
New York Times Magazine article on the nearly $15 billion pet food industry. - Debbie Does Salad: The Food Network at the Frontiers of Pornography by Frederick Kaufman
The unadulterated Harper's Magazine article. - The Secret Ingredient
Harper's article on kosher food (.pdf). - Fat of the Land
Harper's profile of Dale Boone (.pdf). - Our Daily Bread
Harper's article on the triumph of American gastrosophy (.pdf).
MEDIA
- TEDxManhattan - The Measure of All Things
TEDxManhattan April 26, 2011 - Soaring Food Prices
My appearance on MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show. - The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away With It
Video from my appearance on Democracy Now July 16, 2010. - Did Wall Street Cause a Food Bubble?
Audio from NPR's Here & Now. - CUNY TV
Kaufman discusses fat parades, artificial oysters, gastroporn and his beginnings as a food writer. - WREG-TV Memphis
Appearance on "Live at 9" morning show. - The Commonwealth Club
Video from my California reading on Feb. 22. - Seattle NPR
- The Leonard Lopate Show
2/1/08: On WNYC. - On Point
WBUR's Tom Ashbrook and I talk about "the most fashionable pukes" of American history and other subjects.
SCHOLARLY
- The Enteric Terrors of Washington Irving
This article first appeared in Gastronomica
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Fastpitch
I wrote the script for this documentary on fast-pitch softball.