Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal

Why do we eat a large dinner at night instead of a mid-day meal followed by siesta as our European counterparts do? How did our custom of consuming orange juice and cold cereal become an American staple? These questions of “how, when, and why” of the distinctly American custom of consuming food is the subject of Carroll’s newest book. By tracing the history of sustenance throughout the history of the nation, from the earliest settlers to today, Carroll makes the argument that perhaps “our knives and forks may prove to be cultural tools more powerful than we have yet dared to dream.” Despite a well-researched and well-presented history of the concepts of the four main meal categories, “dinner, lunch, breakfast, and snack,” the book reads more as an exercise in tracing what has passed without persuasive data for what will occur in the future. There is definitely more that went into how and why Americans consume their food the way they do, as Carroll demonstrates. However, by adding a conclusion that fails to take into account the modern age, with globalization and an America with a larger focus on uniqueness/authenticity in its food market, the conclusion that there is one specifically American way of eating does not feel satisfactory. (Sept.)