Food City: Four Centuries of Food-Making in New York

New York City, the mecca of finance, fashion, and musicals, has an earthier past as the world’s greatest food-producing settlement, according to this sprawling history. The (now deceased) Santlofer, former New York University professor and editor-in-chief of NY FoodStory, surveys four centuries of food processing in New York, a typical Gotham tale of prodigies with piquant local flavorings. After the Erie Canal made the city the global outlet for Midwest agricultural bounty in the early 19th century, flour and hardtack made in New York fed the Union Army in the Civil War and much of Europe, vast herds of cattle and pigs were herded through the streets to reeking slaughterhouses near Times Square, Brooklyn and Manhattan refineries made most of the nation’s sugar, and neighborhood kosher butchers, bakers, and Italian pasta-makers perfected immigrant delicacies that became American staples. This is an industrial saga: New York’s food sector was capitalism’s hideous underbelly, with 16-hour days, sweltering temperatures, periodic explosions, stomach-turning filth, and bitter strikes. But it also became one of capitalism’s marvels as it pioneered giant mechanized factories with antiseptic cleanliness. The book rambles as if through a Delancey Street market, stopping often for colorful anecdotes; there’s not much of a thesis, but Santlofer’s vivid, lively exploration of this forgotten history makes for a great browse. Photos. [em](Nov.) [/em]