The World on a Plate: A Tour Through the History of America's Ethnic Cuisine

by Joel Denker

The World on a Plate is the story of how immigrant families have changed and influenced our food and created a uniquely American culinary pastiche. Joel Denker, a longtime food and travel writer and a scholar of American folklore, conducted fascinating interviews with a range of ethnic-food merchants in crafting a history of our colorful food makers—the grocers, vendors, manufacturers, importers, restaurateurs—and the products they have given us.

Genres: Food

196 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2003

Reviews

[Ralphz]

This is very well done, a look at the ethnic food around the nation that's become American food.

It goes from Italian to Mediterranean to Greek, Jewish, Chinese, Indian/Pakistani/Arabic and Latin. In each chapter, we learn about why the food is here, where it started, what are some common dishes, how each was adapted to American tastes (or changed American tastes), and what's coming next.

It's interesting to see how often immigrants set up restaurants for their countrymen to savor their old-world tastes, and then how Americans joined the crowd.

It's fascinating, and it made me hungry again and again!

[Theresa Jehlik]

Through seven essays, the author shows how Italian, Middle Eastern, Greek, Jewish, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican food became integrated into America. Each chapter shows how enterprising immigrants took an Old World favorite and adapted it in a new country. Most started out as a way of bringing a taste of home to the New World immigrants. Along the way, the cuisines became Americanized to capture new audiences. A quick read with lots of interesting facts and figures about "ethnic food" in America.

[Catherine]

There were a couple of interesting stories, but for the most part this book was dry and felt like the author was too interested in documenting facts rather than making his prose more anecdotal. This book would have been much more enjoyable had the author had a bit more fun with his material and readers.

[Yaaresse]

Based on the title, this should have been right n my wheelhouse. Instead, I was completely bored.
It was like reading essays written by someone who was completely disinterested in the assigned topic. There's another book with the same title by a different author. I'm half-tempted to try reading it and compare the two.

[Kelly]

And I didn't even have to pick up a dieting book to learn some top secrets. Other than that, this was a c**p read. I need to go back to my true love, Foer.