Carolyn Wyman, Amazing Food Writer

These three titles might be hard to obtain, and they are in paperback, so I had to send them to the bindery, but the students have loved them. How can you NOT pick up a book entitled Jell-o: A Biography.

The research in these books is phenomenal. Wyman doesn't just cover dry facts about the history of products; she includes almost every pop cultural reference to the products she can find. There are cartoons, vintage ads, tv clips-- you name it. The pages are sometimes a little crowded for my taste, but the presentation does make these nice for browsing.

My favorite is probably Better Than Homemade:Amazing Foods that Changed the Way We Eat. From Birdseye frozen foods to Jiffy Pop, convenience foods are given great coverage. Why did they appear? How popular were they? What the heck is really in them? Fascinating stuff.

Had a student yesterday who was borrowing this "just for study hall" decide to take it home so he could share it with his parents!