Andrew F. Smith
In a lively account of the American tuna industry over the past century, celebrated food writer and scholar Andrew F. Smith relates how tuna went from being sold primarily as a fertilizer to becoming the most commonly consumed fish in the country. In ,American Tuna,, the so-called â€œchicken of the seaâ€ is both the subject and the backdrop for other facets of American history: U.S. foreign policy, immigration and environmental politics, and dietary trends. ,Smith recounts how tuna became a popular low-cost high-protein food beginning in 1903, when the first can rolled off the assembly line. By 1918, skyrocketing sales made it one of Americaâ€™s most popular seafoods. In the decades that followed, the American tuna industry employed thousands, yet at at mid-century production started to fade. Concerns about toxic levels of methylmercury, by-catch issues, and over-harvesting all contributed to the demise of the industry today, when only three major canned tuna brands exist in the United States, all foreign owned. A remarkable cast of charactersâ€” fishermen, advertisers, immigrants, epicures, and environmentalists, among many othersâ€”populate this fascinating chronicle of American tastes and the forces that influence them.
Food and Drink,Food,Nonfiction,History,Food History,Food and Drink,Cookbooks,History
American Tuna: The Rise and Fall of an Improbable Food