Food for Thought: Book Discussion - Eight Flavors, Endangered Eating

Join Library staff to discuss Sarah Lohman's works, Eight Flavors and Endangered Eating. Feel free to read one book, or both books - finishing the book is not required to join the conversation! 

Both Eight Flavors and Endangered Eating are available as eaudiobooks on hoopla and as ebooks on Libby. Both titles can also be placed on hold in the STELLA catalog. A limited number of complimentary print copies of Endangered Eating are now available at Kennedy Library.

Sarah Lohman will be visiting Piscataway Public Library at the end of April, offering a workshop on recipe writing and a book talk and signing focused on her more recent book, Endangered Eating. 

Eight Flavors: The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population that 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 “a unique and surprising view of American history…richly researched, intriguing, and elegantly written” (The Atlantic), Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table.

Endangered Eating: In Endangered Eating, culinary historian Sarah Lohman draws inspiration from the Ark of Taste, a list compiled by Slow Food International that catalogues important regional foods. Lohman travels the country learning about the distinct ingredients at risk of being lost. Readers follow Lohman to Hawaii, as she walks alongside farmers to learn the stories behind heirloom sugarcane. In the Navajo Nation, she assists in the traditional butchering of a Navajo Churro ram. Lohman heads to the Upper Midwest, to harvest wild rice; to the Pacific Northwest, to spend a day wild salmon reefnet fishing; to the Gulf Coast, to devour gumbo made thick and green with filé powder; and to the Lowcountry of South Carolina, to taste America’s oldest peanut—long thought to be extinct. Lohman learns from those who love these rare ingredients: shepherds, fishers, and farmers; scientists, historians, and activists. And she tries her hand at raising these crops and preparing these dishes. Each chapter includes two recipes, so readers can be a part of saving these ingredients by purchasing and preparing them.

Sarah Lohman will be visiting the Library at the end of April:

• Food for Thought: Recipe Writing with Sarah Lohman on recipe writing Saturday, April 26 at 1pm
• Food for Thought: Endangered Eating - Sarah Lohman on heirloom cider apples on Sunday, April 27 at 2pm

This event is part of our Food for Thought event series. The Food for Thought project was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this event do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.