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American Tuna

American Tuna
The Rise and Fall of an Improbable Food

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Fast Food and Junk Food

Fast Food and Junk Food
An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat

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by Andrew F. Smith

Starving the South
How the North
Won the Civil War

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Potato
A Global History

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The Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food

Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food

The Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food
Andrew F. Smith
Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 2006.
London: Reaktion Books, 2008

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This ready reference objectively explores the American obsession through products, corporations and entrepreneurs, social history, popular culture, organizations, issues, politics, commercialism and consumerism, and much more.

Product Description

Eating junk food and fast food is a great all-American passion. American kids and grownups love their candy bars, Big Macs and supersized fries, Doritos, Twinkies, and Good Humor ice cream bars. The disastrous health effects from the enormous appetite for these processed fat- and sugar-loaded foods are well publicized now. This was particularly dramatically evidenced by Super Size Me (2004), filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s 30-day all-McDonald’s diet in which his liver suffered the same poisoning as if he had been on an extended alcohol binge. Through increased globalization, American popular food culture is being increasingly emulated elsewhere in the world, such as China, with the potential for similar disastrous consequences. This A-to-Z reference is the first to focus on the junk food and fast food phenomena from a multitude of angles in addition to health and diet concerns. More than 250 essay entries objectively explore the scope of the topics to illuminate the American way through products, corporations and entrepreneurs, social history, popular culture, organizations, issues, politics, commercialism and consumerism, and much more.

Interest in these topics is high. This informative and fascinating work, with entries on current controversies such as mad cow disease and factory farming, the food pyramid, movie tie-ins, and marketing to children, will be highly useful for reports, research, and browsing. It takes readers behind the scenes, examining the significance of such things as uniforms, training, packaging, and franchising. Readers of every age will also enjoy the nostalgia factor, learning about the background of iconic drive-ins, the story behind the mascots, facts about their favorite candy bar, and collectables. Each entry ends with suggested reading. Besides an introduction, a timeline, glossary, bibliography, resource guide, and photos enhance the text. Sample entries: A&W Root Beer; Advertising; Automobiles; Ben & Jerry’s; Burger King; Carhops; Center for Science in the Public Interest; Christmas; Cola Wars; Employment; Fair Food; Fast Food Nation; Hershey, Milton; Hollywood; Injury; Krispy Kreme; Lobbying; Nabisco; Obesity; PepsiCo; Salt; Soda Fountain; Teen Hangouts; Vegetarianism; White Castle; Yum! Brands, Inc.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Roger Smith
Edible Conversations
Spring 2012

A Drinkable Conversation:
Vodka and Rum

on June 25

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FEATURED ARTICLES
Kitchens through the Ages
Kitchens through the Ages
by Andrew F. Smith Read it on Gourmet Live

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The Pecan: A Culinary History
by Andrew F. Smith

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Did Hunger Defeat the Confederacy?
by Andrew F. Smith

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Chipping Away at British and American English
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Historical Virtues of the Walnut
by Andrew F. Smith

Virtues of the Walnut PDF