THE UNITED STATES OF ARUGULA, BY DAVID KAMP

Another xmas book (thanks Ak). The subtitle is “How We Became a Gourmet Nation.” I hate the word “gourmet” and I shudder to think what actually becoming a gourmet nation would be like, but hey, I guess I’m part foodie, so I should read. So far full of fun foodie factoids and tidbits without a whole lot of cogent digestion or rumination (although bedecked with ample gastronomic puns that, sadly, seem contagious).

Done
The book begins with some interesting assertions about food in American culture, how it is less an integral part of the culture than it is in the Old World and more of a consciously practiced passtime or object of fandom like sports or movies. That piqued my interest, but it soon becomes obvious that the book is more of a chronicle of the different personalities that have shaped American culinary consciousness in the past century, more documentary than analytical. The personal details are fun, of course, plenty of tawdry tristes and tiffs and addictions, but otherwise the book doesn’t have a whole lot more substance than a tabloid, or a timeline (see how I avoided gastropunning on “substance”?).