This cookbook starts off with a brief history of cookbooks in the United States and then moves into Missouri written and published cookbooks. It shows how early cookbooks where a record of our cultural heritage. How the cooks of the day would move from recipes for a fine dinner on one page to recipes to keep ants out of the house and add color to a flowers bloom on the next then back to recipes for every day meals.
The authors used more than 150 publications to discuss Missouri’s cookbook heritage. They started with manuscript cookbooks from 1821 in St Louis including those from the William Clark family. Yes, that’s Clark from the Lewis and Clark Expeditions. They continue on to modern days including the popularity and fundraising efforts of community and civic group cookbooks and how the state’s beef council has put recipes on the Internet.
An informative, fun history of cooking, every day life and even politics in Missouri. 
It’s pretty rare that I read non-fiction, but when it’s packaged up all nice and comic-like, it’s much easier for me to be willing to pick it up. And this book is well-worth picking up. Brooke Gladstone of NPR takes the reader through an extensive investigation into journalism and the media. If you think you know the media, you likely don’t even know a fraction of the story. Gladstone not only tells us of the history of media, particularly American-style reporting, she also reveals the biases of both the media and the consumer. When all these pieces are put into context, we begin to realize just how ingrained our assumptions and biases are.
; and though the Christian Coalition and bean-sprout eaters may not have much in common on social issues, they do agree up and down on economic issues. He then goes on to dismiss the terms conservative and liberal, saying these are political ideologies, what is more useful in categorizing voters is by how much money you make. How many of you make more than $28,400? Michael Eisner head of Pixar makes $28,400, not in a year, not in a month, not in a week, no, he makes that much in an hour. Whew! Puts $71 million a year into perspective.
