Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine
    Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine
    Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine
    Audiobook8 hours

    Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine

    Written by Sarah Lohman

    Narrated by Sarah Lohman

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population which makes for a continually changing culinary landscape. But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. In Eight Flavors, Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table.

    Eight Flavors introduces the explorers, merchants, botanists, farmers, writers, and chefs whose choices came to define the American palate. Lohman takes you on a journey through the past to tell us something about our present, and our future. We meet John Crowninshield a New England merchant who traveled to Sumatra in the 1790s in search of black pepper and Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old slave who lived on an island off the coast of Madagascar, who discovered the technique still used to pollinate vanilla orchids today. Weaving together original research, historical recipes, and Lohman's own adventures both in the kitchen and in the field, Eight Flavors is a delicious treat-ready to be devoured.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 21, 2017
    ISBN9781515987284
    Author

    Sarah Lohman

    Sarah Lohman is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where she began working in a museum at the age of sixteen, cooking historic food over a wood-burning stove. Lohman moved to New York in 2006 to work for New York magazine’s food blog, Grub Street, and now works with museums and galleries around the city to create public programs focused on food. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR, and appeared in the Cooking Channel’s Food: Fact or Fiction. The author of the blog Four Pounds Flavor, Eight Flavors is her first book.

    Related to Eight Flavors

    Related audiobooks

    Regional & Ethnic Food For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Oh, THE PLACES WE’LL GO!

      Jun 5, 2020

      Oh, THE PLACES WE’LL GO!
      7 min read

    • Article

      Magical MEMORIES

      Jun 26, 2020

      Magical MEMORIES
      6 min read

    • Article

      Follow the flavor

      Dec 18, 2018

      Follow the flavor
      12 min read

    • Article

      Foodies Take Flight

      Dec 30, 2019

      Foodies Take Flight
      7 min read

    • Article

      ¡Viva la Cocina!

      Apr 25, 2023

      ¡Viva la Cocina!
      25 min read

    • Article

      The Best Meal I’ve Ever Had

      Jun 24, 2021

      The Best Meal I’ve Ever Had
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Washington Island Boyhood

      Mar 7, 2023

      A Washington Island Boyhood
      8 min read

    • Article

      Your Voices

      May 7, 2021

      Your Voices
      5 min read

    • Article

      Where The Living Is Easy

      Aug 5, 2020

      Where The Living Is Easy
      13 min read

    • Article

      Caitlin Moran

      Mar 3, 2022

      Caitlin Moran
      2 min read

    • Article

      ‘These Are The Food Memories That Make Me’

      Jan 3, 2024

      A Findus Crispy Pancake, a golden turkey, melon drenched in port – it’s funny how food memories can transport us to a time and place. For good or for bad, one bite can take us back to a particular moment, bringing with it everything we felt at that t

      2 min read

    • Article

      EATING WITH Michael Zavros

      Sep 27, 2020

      EATING WITH Michael Zavros
      2 min read

    • Article

      MY ENGLISH HOME Matthew Fort

      Jan 8, 2020

      MY ENGLISH HOME Matthew Fort
      4 min read

    • Article

      Moving to ITALY

      Jul 1, 2021

      Moving to ITALY
      4 min read

    • Article

      La Dolce Vita

      Aug 7, 2023

      La Dolce Vita
      19 min read

    • Article

      The Glass Shelf

      Feb 1, 2023

      The Glass Shelf
      8 min read

    • Article

      My New Mexico

      Jun 9, 2020

      My New Mexico
      13 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Eight Flavors

    4/5

    52 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      An interesting look at eight different flavors from a food history perspective. Each flavor has a chapter of its own and is arranged chronologically based on when it became ubiquitous in American kitchens and cuisine (with the last still being new and perhaps not quite as commonplace yet) : black pepper, vanilla, chili powder, curry powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and sriracha. Lohman also includes some recipes in each chapter, a few of which I'd like to try.I found most interesting the discussions of cultural attitudes towards the flavors and their associated cuisines when they were still considered new to America. MSG, for instance, is much maligned to this day and is even blamed for "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". Would it have earned its reputation if it was used in another country's cuisine instead?
    • 5/5
      EIGHT FLAVORS by Sarah Lohman is an absurdly interesting read about just the elements of some of our food. A “Food Historian”, Ms. Lohman tells of her growing interest in the journey of American tastes from Colonial days to the modern table. She does this not by looking at the dishes that grace our tables today but by the taste elements with those foods. Specifically, she gives us eight different additives which enrich our food as well as please and titillate our palates.By exploring the history of black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG and sriracha she reveals not only how we came to be using those main flavoring ingredients, but also what they replaces, how they were first introduced to our cooking and how so many disparate ingredients from all about the globe became American flavors. Yes, we are the great melting pot and our use of these favors helps to show that despite outer appearances, we are all basically the same.Thrown in are great stories about the people who brought these flavors to our table. You might think that chili powder came from Mexico, but it was actually a Texan of German extraction that made it a common staple in our homes. Mr. Smile gave us curry powder, but he wasn’t always amusing. And the first soy sauce didn’t arrive with an influx of Chinese but rather was first made in a small Georgia town.This book is full of interesting and amazing details, many, many recipies and is just a lot of fun to read.
    • 5/5
      Eight Flavors takes the reader from the search for black pepper in 1801 in Salem, MA to the birth of Sriracha in CA in 1980. The twists and turns of the eight flavors and their arrival, embrace and in one case rejection (MSG) in the US makes for an interesting read.Sarah Lohman has done her research and produced a book that not only deals with the history of the eight flavors, but the chemistry, the human interest angles and many ways to experience them. The eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha each have their unique story of the how and why they became an integral part of American cuisine. The most interesting to me was the much maligned MSG. I had bought into the Chinese restaurant syndrome (CRS) with the culprit being MSG. Although I am not a migraine sufferer, I had blamed MSG on various ailments that seemed to present themselves after indulging in a Chinese buffet. But always in the back of my mind was remembering that little canister of Accent that my mom used as a flavor enhancer. The fact that MSG is in many foods we American eat that don’t cause the CRS symptoms was an eye opener for me. An example given in the book was Doritos which contains MSG.The most inspiring flavor to me was the introduction of Sriracha. I have to admit that at the time of this writing, I have not knowingly experienced Sriracha. But I plan to alleviate that very soon. I always assumed it was very hot. I like some very hot food. But I was picturing a reaction similar to eating a tablespoon of wasabi. But after finding out that tabasco on my eggs which I like might be hotter than Sriracha on my eggs makes me want to find out if that is true.If you are into food and into history Eight Flavors will welt your appetite for both.I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchanged for my honest review. Thank you.