We may not have had fast food until the last half of the 20th century, but we had interesting, regional food and this book shows us, historically, how food has evolved in various sections of the U.S. Made up of stories compiled by Works Progress Administration writers in the 30s and 40s, it was abandoned until author Mark Kurlansky found it and put it in print. He's done us all a great service. ( )

Everyone knows about how the US government supported artists during the Great Depression through the New Deal, although most people only know about the photographers who worked with the WPA. A lesser known organization within the WPA was the Federal Writers' Project, which employed over 6000 new and established writers during those hard times.

The first major project of the FWP was to write travel guides for all the states (as well as DC and some territories). Some of these are apparently still in print. The second major project was a book titled "America Eats." Unfortunately, work on the book was slowed and eventually abandoned as the situation with WWII made the economy turn. The files for "America Eats" (at least, the bits that were collected and basically dumped into a box in the Library of Congress) were forgotten for years. Author Mark Kurlansky came across the file while researching another book at LC. In this book, he has compiled what was in that LC file (whether the pieces are good or bad), but most importantly, he puts in some context for the pieces, describing the FWP, the WPA, and pre-war America.

I was really struck with how different this country has become in such a short time. This entire book revolves around home-cooking. Very few restaurants are mentioned, and these pieces were written before convenience foods were available like they are today. The country is also divided into regions that seem a little strange today (New York paired off with New England? California split, so Los Angeles and south goes with the Southwest, while San Francisco and the north go with the Far West?) The book shows an absolutely fascinating slice of life - I don't know if I would use the term "a simpler time," but definitely a different time.

There a few famous names in here too (Eudora Welty, Zora Neale Hurston, Nelson Algren) and it's interesting to get a little background on how writers (whether they were already famous or became so later) were part of the FWP. ( )