Quotes from John Birdsall

Authenticity was tricky; trying to duplicate another country's food in America was impossible. Wasn't it better to adapt a cuisine, as he'd begun to do in Fireside with French cuisine bourgeoise? To give it an American identity and make it something new?

The best and most interesting food in America was inseparable from the landscapes that produced it. It was all right there, in country diners and small-town grocers' shops; in roadside dinner houses and bakeries. All you needed to do was look.