American Home Cooking

July 1, 2017
As Miller notes, cooking in the American household has radically changed from the country's colonial past. In earliest days, cooks had to collect wood, light fires, haul water in from the well, and more before they could actually touch food. It took a couple of centuries until home cooking was reduced to opening a can or a box. Early American home cooks had only a fireplace, and in many a settler's abode, it dominated the household, serving as stove, oven, and drafty cabin's furnace. The advent of food-preservation techniques such as canning and then refrigeration radically changed everything about cooking. By the late nineteenth century, scientists contributed their growing command of microbiology to both detect and prevent spoilage and food-borne illness. This ever more efficient and ubiquitous technology had even greater effect, revolutionizing gender roles in the home and unleashing social forces that continue to resonate. Miller's microhistory goes from colonial days through the 1960s and will be appreciated by readers interested in American history and in cooking in general.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)