Books, Arts & Manners: Good Old—and New

Liberty cabbage, O.D. gravy, slump, French 75—what on earth do these words mean? I am not going to tell you, but urge you to find out for yourself in one of the most entrancing books I’ve come across in a long time — The Dictionary of American Food and Drink, by John F. Mariani (Tick-nor and Fields, $19.95)—in which you can also find Ben Franklin’s opinion of turkey, the history of Prohibition, and the origin of the term “hooch.” As a matter of fact, I have taken bets on two of the terms defined in the book and won, wishing I had placed a higher bet.

The author of this American equivalent of the French Larousse Gastro-nomique is—joy of joys—a man who can write with wit, eloquence, and elegance. He is the product of Iona College, ending up with a PhD in English Romantic literature at Columbia; where, poor soul, he wrote a 450-page dissertation on Walter Savage Landor, proving that he is industrious and is not easily depressed, as I am when I think of Landor. It is really quite wonderful what a strict education by the Irish Christian Brothers will do for a man’s discipline and general knowledge.

NH

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Nika Hazelton

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Liberty cabbage, O.D. gravy, slump, French 75—what on earth do these words mean? I am not going to tell you, but urge you to find out for yourself in one of the most entrancing books I’ve come across in a long time — The Dictionary of American Food and Drink, by John F. Mariani (Tick-nor and Fields, $19.95)—in which you can also find Ben Franklin’s opinion of turkey, the history of Prohibition, and the origin of the term “hooch.” As a matter of fact, I have taken bets on two of the terms defined in the book and won, wishing I had placed a higher bet.

The author of this American equivalent of the French Larousse Gastro-nomique is—joy of joys—a man who can write with wit, eloquence, and elegance. He is the product of Iona College, ending up with a PhD in English Romantic literature at Columbia; where, poor soul, he wrote a 450-page dissertation on Walter Savage Landor, proving that he is industrious and is not easily depressed, as I am when I think of Landor. It is really quite wonderful what a strict education by the Irish Christian Brothers will do for a man’s discipline and general knowledge.