Dimensions
134 x 203 x 22mm
An enlightening narrative history-an entertaining fusion of Tom Wolfe and Michael Pollan-that traces the colorful origins of once-unconventional foods and the fringe movements, charismatic gurus, and counterculture politics that brought them to the mainstream and created a distinctly American cuisine.
Journey back a half century in time-to the 1960s and 1970s-with food writer Jonathan Kauffman, who tells the story of how a coterie of unusual men and women embraced an alternative diet that would ultimately change how modern Americans eat. Impeccably researched, Hippie Food chronicles how the longhairs, revolutionaries, and back-to-the-landers rejected the square establishment of President Richard Nixon's America and turned to a more idealistic, wholesome, and communal way of eating.
From the mystical rock-and-roll cult known as the Source Family and their legendary vegetarian Hollywood restaurant, to the free brown bread served by activists known as the Diggers in Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love, to the rise of food co-ops and the origins of organic farming, Kauffman reveals how quotidian staples such as sprouts, tofu, granola, brown rice, and whole-grain bread became part of our diets. He tracks hippie food's journey from California to Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and from a niche oddity to a cuisine eaten in every corner of this country.
A slick mix of gonzo playfulness, evocative detail, and elegant writing, Hippie Food is a lively and informative read that deepens our understanding of our culture and our lives today.
