What a fun read! Even my husband has been caught reading this book, which reads like a novel. All the new innovations of the last century are included. Of course, Campbell soup was one of those, making the American cook think like a French expert. The work necessary to put this together must have been tremendous. ( )

Even for those who don't cook, but who love the history of food and food lore, this is an interesting book. The author's intent was to write about the recipes that were influential in the 20th century, but in addition to recipes she intersperses throughout the book a food timeline and articles that talk about famous chefs of the period, the history of a particular food/recipe and other miscellany. I really enjoyed the soup merger chart that had been published in older editions of the Joy of Cooking. It's supposed to be tasty combinations of store bought condensed soups such as Campbells. I remain unconvinced about just how 'tasty' some of those combos really are. ( )