Four Score and Seven Beers Ago

BOOK REVIEW: The Founding Foodies

by Drew Lazor

Bloated waistlines this time of year are unavoidable. But why not get a little history-buff workout on breaks from gorging? Food writer Dave DeWitt's The Founding Foodies: How Washington, Jefferson and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine (Source Books, Nov. 16) takes a lively and erudite look into the culinary proclivities of the dudes on our money, from our first president's immense brewing, distilling and farming prowess (he was among the first American farmers to adopt composting, and pioneered breeding mules for field work) to TJ's passions for French wine, Italian cheese and Belgian waffles (the claim that the third president introduced them to America is unproven and controversial).

DeWitt starts with early settlers' first agricultural dealings with American Indians and moves into the dining habits of Colonial times, providing a number of original recipes along the way. (At last, you can bake Martha Washington's fruitcake!) The author's snappy recollections help foster the realization that food carried immense importance to the nation shapers, whether our forebears were simply sitting down to enjoy a meal or laying the groundwork for how we eat today. (Many credit Benjamin Franklin's essays for America's love of corn.)

Philadelphia, of course, plays a huge role in The Founding Foodies. The City Tavern, replicated at Second and Walnut, famously adheres to Colonial-era cooking techniques and was a site of innumerable handshake agreements and just as many hard-drinking evenings for the likes of John Adams and Paul Revere. DeWitt also provides the original recipes for regional classics like snapper soup and pepper pot, the tripe-and-calves'-foot stew that's labeled "The Soup That Won the War," due to American "baker-general" Christopher Ludwick sating hungry soldiers with it at Valley Forge.

(drew.lazor@citypaper.net)