The Truth about Baked Beans, Meg Muckenhoupt
The Truth about Baked Beans, Meg Muckenhoupt
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The Truth about Baked Beans
An Edible History of New England

Author: Meg Muckenhoupt

Narrator: Caroline Hewitt

Unabridged: 11 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/03/2020


Synopsis

Meg Muckenhoupt begins with a simple question: When did Bostonians start making Boston Baked Beans? Storekeepers in Faneuil Hall and Duck Tour guides may tell you that the Pilgrims learned a recipe for beans with maple syrup and bear fat from Native Americans, but in fact, the recipe for Boston Baked Beans is the result of a conscious effort in the late nineteenth century to create New England foods. New England foods were selected and resourcefully reinvented from fanciful stories about what English colonists cooked prior to the American revolution-while pointedly ignoring the foods cooked by contemporary New Englanders, especially the large immigrant populations who were powering industry and taking over farms around the region. The Truth About Baked Beans explores New England’s culinary myths and reality through some of the region’s most famous foods: baked beans, brown bread, clams, cod and lobster, maple syrup, pies, and Yankee pot roast. From 1870 to 1920, the idea of New England food was carefully constructed in magazines, newspapers, and cookbooks, often through fictitious and sometimes bizarre origin stories touted as time-honored American legends. This toothsome volume reveals the effort that went into the creation of these foods and lets us begin to reclaim the culinary heritage of immigrant New England-the French Canadians, Irish, Italians, Portuguese, Polish, indigenous people, African-Americans, and other New Englanders whose culinary contributions were erased from this version of New England food. Complete with historic and contemporary recipes, The Truth About Baked Beans delves into the surprising history of this curious cuisine, explaining why and how “New England food” actually came to be.

About Meg Muckenhoupt

Meg Muckenhoupt is a freelance writer and the author of Cabbage: A Global History, among others. Her work has been featured in The Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix, Boston magazine, and the Time Out Boston guide, and her book Boston Gardens and Green Spaces is a Boston Globe local bestseller.

About Caroline Hewitt

Caroline Hewitt is an experienced actor and playwright who has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in television shows. Having received a degree in French from Vassar College, she went on to obtain her master's degree in acting from the American Conservatory Theater. Her love for reading has brought her into the world of audiobook narration.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alicia

This is an incredibly thorough look at the myths about what people traditionally ate in New England and how those myths were created (spoiler-- mostly racism, xenophobia and classism). I was particularly fascinated by the ridiculous period ideas by "experts" of the 1800's like advice to avoid vegeta......more

Goodreads review by Jamie

Alas, this book was a disappointment to me. *heavy sigh* I LOVE microhistories, I love food history, and I love learning about regional quirks, so I was really excited to read this one. Unfortunately, this is no Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat. Instead, this was bogged down by sh......more

Goodreads review by Caitlin

The Truth About Baked Beans is a micro-history about the food and culinary habits of New England, with the specific focus of disputing some commonly held myths that it turns out we can mostly thank the Victorians for. Unfortunately, this book needed a much heavier edit and ends up feeling like a ser......more