Join Ernest & Hadley Booksellers on Saturday, August 29th as we welcome Mark A. Johnson back to the events stage - this time in the Brick House space! Signing and talk to begin at 11:30 am, discussing his latest -
American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon A four-century history of a gastronomic phenomenon in the United States
In American Bacon, Mark A. Johnson asks (and answers) a seemingly simple question: How has bacon overcome centuries of religious prohibition, cultural contempt, and dietary advice to become a twenty-first-century culinary and cultural powerhouse?
Starting in early modern Britain and tracing the story of bacon through the colonial era, the Civil War, the Progressive Era, modern fad diets, and the emerging craft bacon industry, Johnson provides a new perspective on some familiar American narratives. More than a story of production, marketing, and consumption, Johnson argues, this cultural history connects bacon to race, class, and gender while also illuminating major historical forces, such as migration, warfare, urbanization and suburbanization, reform movements, cultural trends, and globalization. For Johnson, bacon’s story from “most dangerous food in the supermarket” to pop culture and gastronomic phenomenon reflects the cultural values of a nation.
MARK A. JOHNSON, from Milwaukee, earned a PhD in history from the University of Alabama. Previously, he earned an MA from the University of Maryland and BA from Purdue University. He currently teaches at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is the author of An Irresistible History of Alabama Barbecue: From Wood Pit to White Sauce and Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacle, 1877–1932.
"American Bacon is a delicious read that serves up many crispy, enjoyable, and surprising bits of culinary history. It's a fascinating look at how changing perceptions transformed this particular preserved meat from a lowly staple item into an enduring food celebrity." -Adrian Miller / James Beard Award-winning author