David Kamp's The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation

David Kamp's The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation makes for a good light read for anyone interested in the subject of food, its follies and fights in the United States. It glides the decades and personalities of the food world with personal stories, quirky accounts and riffs of all our favorite foodie things: from the feisty Frenchman brought in to "enlighten" Americans about French cuisine at the World's Fair to America's first taste of chèvre to some of today's better known and loved (or loathed) Celebrity Chefs.

The first half of the book is a fly by of earlier personalities who dip in and out of the remaining pages. The second half provides a more nuanced look at some of the growers, chefs and personalities that forged a new way in the food world. The book is a great insight into the personal lives of some of the big shots in the food establishment while also detailing the accounts of bringing quality ingredients into peoples' conscience. Unfortunately, to truly be all encompassing the book would have to be encyclopedic in magnitude and in the end, it leaves much to be desired.

I find it hard to believe that it is not until the mid-eighties (page 300) that other cities hop on the gourmet band wagon. It is here that Kamp finally makes note of cities other than New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles as pushing the food envelope, calling for fresh ingredients and seeking out farm relationships. An overwhelming amount of research was taken from New York Times which I believe to be lacking in reach of what is considered newsworthy outside of the coasts. I find it hard to believe there was nothing food-worthy outside these cities before 1983 (which the book gently claims with little mention of other locales before this year).