Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman
American cooking has various inspirations. Spices from around the world make it to America. Some may start up as exotic before being "Americanized" and adopted as local spices. This book explores 8 flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. It also looks at flavors that may be the next "future" American flavor.
The book explores origins of the usage and popularity of spices as well as having associated recipes. Black pepper was popular in the colonies. However, it took some effort to find the source to be able to import it directly into the USA. (Once it was imported, there was a lot of money to be made.) MSG is defended as a basic chemical that naturally results from other preparation. The research into the "Chinese restaurant syndrome" was likely due to other parts of food preparation.
It is interesting that many of these flavors were heavily associated with ethnic groups before they were seen as "American", making it a true melting pot.
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