What does American cuisine tell us about the United States?

Wonder Bread advertisement in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott, 1939. Image via Library of Congress. Public Domian

American food is unlike anything else in the world. And it goes a lot deeper than hamburgers and pizza. The thing that makes American food special is the stunning variety of options and how accessible it is to the average consumer. Also some regional American dishes that are impossible to find anywhere else on the planet

Dr. Paul Freedman is a historian who thinks that all of these factors--standardization, variety, and regionality--can tell us a lot about American culture and identity.

On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Grace Davis interviews Dr. Freedman about his book American Cuisine: and How it Got This Way.

Book: American Cuisine: and How it Got This Way

Guest: Dr. Paul Freedman, Professor of History at Yale University 

Producer: Grace Davis

Music: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton

Editors: Bethany Denton and Jeff Emtman

Photo credit for Paul Freedman: Frank Schulenburg