Food for Thought: Culinary Histories

Celebrate the birth of American fine dining with The Culinarians by David S. Shields. This book explores the careers of over 175 chefs and restauranteurs from the early 1800s thru Prohibition. Appetite for America by Stephan Fried is the story of Fred Harvey who built a restaurant and hotel empire along the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe railroads. Fred Harvey was Ray Croc before McDonalds, J Willard Marriott before Marriott Hotels. Harvey's staff of carefully screened single women — the celebrated Harvey Girls — were the country's first female workforce and even inspired a movie starring Judy Garland. And last, Ritz & Escoffier by Luke Barr is a vivid story of a chef and a hotelier born from nothing who came to represent the epitome of luxury and style.