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‘The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink’ now in paperback

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor 
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Food trivia lovers, take note. ‘The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink,’ edited by Andrew F. Smith, is now available in paperback (with nearly 700 pages, it’s that much easier to flip through).

The tome is filled with nuggets like this: ‘In 1959, Jack Meilie was the first male prizewinner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off, taking second place in the junior division with his wiener-filled Hot Ziggities.’

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I could spend hours with the book, reading about Applejack, booyah, cashews, Delmonico’s, eating disorders, Fletcherism, gas grills, hasty pudding, In-N-Out, Jewish dietary laws, Kentucky Fried Chicken, lady fingers, moldy cheese, Navajo tacos, Olestra, passenger pigeons, the Quaker Oats man, rose water, Gustavus Franklin Swift, Tastykake, Uncle Ben, vitamins, White Castle, Yummasetti and zombies.

-- Betty Hallock

‘The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink,’ Oxford University Press.

Daily Dish
Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.

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