In Banquet at Delmonico’s, Barry Werth draws readers inside the circle of intellectuals, scientists, politicians, businessmen, and clergymen who brought Charles Darwin’s controversial ideas to post-Civil-War America. Each chapter is dedicated to a crucial intellectual encounter, culminating with an exclusive farewell dinner held in English philosopher Herbert Spencer’s honor at the venerable New York restaurant Delmonico’s in 1882. In this thought-provoking and nuanced account, Werth firmly situates social Darwinism in the context of the Gilded Age. Banquet at Delmonico’s is social history at its finest.

A grand and sweeping history of ideas, "Banquet at Delmonico's" tells the intimate and dramatic story of how Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and a group of influential American allies together made evolution the guiding spirit of the Gilded Age.

Finalist for the IACP Cookbook Award A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year A Smithsonian Best Food Book of the Year Longlisted for the Art of Eating Prize Featuring a new chapter on ten restaurants changing America today, a “fascinating . . . sweep through centuries of food culture” (Washington Post). Combining an historian’s rigor with a food enthusiast’s palate, Paul Freedman’s seminal and highly entertaining Ten Restaurants That Changed America reveals how the history of our restaurants reflects nothing less than the history of America itself. Whether charting the rise of our love affair with Chinese food through San Francisco’s fabled Mandarin; evoking the poignant nostalgia of Howard Johnson’s, the beloved roadside chain that foreshadowed the pandemic of McDonald’s; or chronicling the convivial lunchtime crowd at Schrafft’s, the first dining establishment to cater to women’s tastes, Freedman uses each restaurant to reveal a wider story of race and class, immigration and assimilation. “As much about the contradictions and contrasts in this country as it is about its places to eat” (The New Yorker), Ten Restaurants That Changed America is a “must-read” (Eater) that proves “essential for anyone who cares about where they go to dinner” (Wall Street Journal Magazine).

Complete culinary encyclopedia, with more than 3,500 recipes and nearly 800 black-and-white illustrations. This edition of the great classic is available in a splendid hardcover facsimile of the rare 1893 original.

“Veronica Hinke has taken a story that we all know so well and interwoven delicious recipes that are historic and old, but classic and worthy of any modern-day table. She has unearthed a vibrant culinary subtext that often left me breathless and dreamy-eyed. She skillfully captures the magical avor of a fascinating era in our history. Two spatulas raised in adulation.” — CHEF ART SMITH, James Beard award winner, Top Chef Masters contestant, former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey April 14, 1912. It was an unforgettable night. In the last hours before the Titanic struck the iceberg, passengers in all classes were enjoying unprecedented luxuries. Innovations in food, drink, and de´cor made this voyage the apogee of Edwardian elegance. Veronica Hinke’s painstaking research and deft touch bring the Titanic’s tragic but eternally glamorous maiden voyage back to life. In addition to stirring accounts of individual tragedy and survival, The Last Night on the Titanic offers tried-and-true recipes, newly invented styles, and classic cocktails to reproduce a glittering world of sophistication at sea. Readers will experience: Recipes for Oysters a` la Russe, Chicken and Wild Mushroom Vol-au-Vents, and dozens of other scrumptious dishes for readers to recreate in their own kitchens A rare printed menu from the last first class dinner on the Titanic Drink recipes from John Jacob Astor IV’s luxury hotels, including the original Martini The true story of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” An extraordinary eyewitness testimony to Captain Edward Smith’s final moments Intimate and captivating stories about select passengers—from millionaires to third class passengers.

New York Times Bestseller The good, the bad, and the ugly, served up Bourdain-style. Bestselling chef and Parts Unknown host Anthony Bourdain has never been one to pull punches. In The Nasty Bits, he serves up a well-seasoned hellbroth of candid, often outrageous stories from his worldwide misadventures. Whether scrounging for eel in the backstreets of Hanoi, revealing what you didn't want to know about the more unglamorous aspects of making television, calling for the head of raw food activist Woody Harrelson, or confessing to lobster-killing guilt, Bourdain is as entertaining as ever. Bringing together the best of his previously uncollected nonfiction--and including new, never-before-published material--The Nasty Bits is a rude, funny, brutal and passionate stew for fans and the uninitiated alike.

Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled. For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the city’s congested waterways. Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the island hunting ground of the Lenape Indians to the death of the oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers. Kurlansky brings characters vividly to life while recounting dramatic incidents that changed the course of New York history. Here are the stories behind Peter Stuyvesant’s peg leg and Robert Fulton’s “Folly”; the oyster merchant and pioneering African American leader Thomas Downing; the birth of the business lunch at Delmonico’s; early feminist Fanny Fern, one of the highest-paid newspaper writers in the city; even “Diamond” Jim Brady, who we discover was not the gourmand of popular legend. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.

Restaurant Concepts, Management, and Operations, 8th Edition takes the reader from the initial idea to the grand opening. It features comprehensive, applications-based coverage of all aspects of developing, opening, and running a restaurant. This includes topics such as staffing, legal and regulatory concerns, cost control and general financing, marketing and promotion, equipment and design, the menu, sanitation, and concept. A one-stop guide to the restaurant business, the Eighth Edition of Walker’s, Restaurant Concepts, Management, and Operations continues the success of previous editions, providing, in an easy-to-read way, all of the skills and information needed to master every challenge and succeed in this highly competitive and rewarding industry. Each chapter has been revised, updated, and enhanced with numerous industry examples, sidebars, charts, tables, photographs, and menus. All of this information will help restaurant owners make the decisions necessary to build a thriving business.

Delve into this captivating collection of the world's 100 most iconic menus which reveal not just the story of food but periods of history, famous works of literature, notable events, and celebrity figures from prehistoric times up to the modern day. Each menu provides an insight into its particular historical moment - from the typical food on offer in a nineteenth-century workhouse to the opulence of George IV's gargantuan coronation dinner. Some menus are linked with a specific and unforgettable event such as The Hindenburg's last flight menu or the variety of meals on offer for First, Second and Third Class passengers on board RMS Titanic, while others give an insight into sport, such as the 1963 FA Cup Final Dinner or transport and travel with the luxury lunch on board the Orient Express. Also included are literary occasions like Charles' Dickens 1868 dinner at Delmonicos in New York as well as the purely fictional and fantastical fare of Ratty's picnic in The Wind in the Willows. This fascinating miscellany of menus from around the world will educate as well as entertain, delighting both avid foodies and the general reader.