The Taste of America

Andrews, the editorial director of TheDailyMeal.com and a cofounder of Saveur magazine, has partnered with Phaidon to create a work that is tailor-made for a coffee table, or perhaps for a time capsule. He has selected 250 food items that, one way or another, are uniquely American, and for each has written single-page encyclopedic entry that explores the product’s history, provenance, and claim to fame. The resulting anthology is a mix of items you’ve never heard of and foods that have seemingly been around forever. Ours is a country of red velvet cake, white cream cheese and blue crabs; and of foodstuffs that reflect our nation of immigrants, such as Goetta, a Germanic pork sausage popular in the Cincinnati area, and the Taro root, which is native to Southeast Asia but when steamed, mashed, and watered down becomes the Hawaiian favorite, poi. Andrews often surprises with his selection: there’s no apple pie, for example, but there is a whoopie pie. The collection is broken into 11 chapters, including Snacks, Condiments, Desserts, Meats and Drinks, and there is a comprehensive index, but the most fun comes from just picking a page at random to discover a regional specialty like she-crab soup from the Lowcountry, or a basic staple like butter. (Oct.)