Describes the author's two-year journey around the United States learning about the different cultures and traditions reshaping American cuisine. "American food is the story of mash-ups. Immigrants arrive, cultures collide, and out of the push-pull come exciting new dishes and flavors. But that surprising first bite is only the beginning. What about the people behind the food? What about the traditions? What about the memories? For two years, Edward Lee, as gifted a writer as he is a chef, traveled the highways and byways of America to seek out foods that open a window onto a whole other way of cooking, of eating, of living--a way that’s unique and quintessentially American. Lee visits a Cambodian couple in Lowell, Massachusetts, re-creating the flavors of their lost home land while helping to inject new vibrancy into a fading mill town. He travels, like so many music lovers, to Clarksdale, Mississippi, birthplace of the blues and now home to America’s best kibbeh and other Lebanese specialties. He learns how to make the mysterious fermented butter called smen from a young Moroccan immigrant living in Westport, Connecticut, then treats her to her first taste of New Haven white clam pizza--an iconic American dish created by an immigrant of a previous generation. And a beignet from Café du Monde, as potent as Proust’s madeleine, inspires a time-traveling narrative from New 0rleans’s original Creole culture to the author’s first job working the breakfast shift at a coffee shop in a dicey New York neighborhood. With his compelling voice and unique perspective--as a Korean-born, Brooklyn-bred chef who found his soul in Kentucky--Edward Lee offers sixteen vibrant chapters in the fascinating and ever-evolving story of American cuisine. And forty recipes, created by Lee and inspired by the people he met around the country, bring these stories right into our own kitchens."--Dust jacket.

Pilgrimage for a beignet -- The pugilist and the cook -- The unfamiliar noodle -- The accidental fast -- Exile and cigars -- Slaw dogs and pepperoni rolls -- A kibbeh in Clarksdale -- Matriarchs of Montgomery -- A lesson in smen -- Death and aquavit -- Trawling for shrimp -- The immortality of Paterson -- Nigerian hustle -- German mustard -- The palace of pastrami -- A tale of two cornbreads.