Meticulously selected from more than 20,000 contributions, the cookbooks 600 recipes are a definitive portrait of what we eat and why. In this lavish volume--illustrated throughout with historic photographs, folk art, vintage advertisements, and family snapshots--ONeill celebrates heirloom recipes like the Doughty familys old-fashioned black duck and dumplings that originated on a long-vanished island off Virginias Eastern Shore, the Pueblo tamales that Norma Naranjo makes in her horno in New Mexico, as well as modern riffs such as a Boston teenagers recipe for asparagus soup scented with nigella seeds and truffle oil. Many recipes offer a bridge between first-generation immigrants and their progeny--the bucatini with dandelion greens and spring garlic that an Italian immigrant and his grandson forage for in the Vermont woods--while others are contemporary variations that embody each generations restless obsession with distinguishing itself from its predecessors. ONeill cooks with artists, writers, doctors, truck drivers, food bloggers, scallop divers, horse trainers, potluckers, and gourmet club members.
In a world where takeout is just a phone call away, One Big Table reminds us of the importance of remaining connected to the food we put on our tables. As this brilliantly edited collection shows on every page, the glories of a home-cooked meal prove how every generation has enriched and expanded our idea of American food. Every recipe in this book is a testament to the way our memories--historical, cultural, and personal--are bound up in our favorite and best family dishes.
As ONeill writes, Most Americans cook from the heart as well as from a distinctly American yearning, something I could feel but couldnt describe until thousands of miles of highway helped me identify it in myself: hometown appetite. This book is a journey through hundreds of hometowns that fuel the American appetite, recipe by recipe, bite by bite.
