Fading Feast – A compendium of disappearing American regional foods –

“In the early 1980s, on an unusual mission for the American Museum of Natural History, Raymond Sokolov criss-0crossed America in search of traditional regional cuisines. He traveled from Eastport, Maine, to San Diego, California, from the Puget Sound to Key West, returning with a cornucopia of recipes that few at the time seemed eager to maintain – recipes such as boudin blanc, persimmon fudge, the makings of a traditional clam bake, and, for the truly adventurous, roast bear paws.

The result, Fading Feast, was meant to serve as a preservation of these vanishing, quintessentially American foods. Since its first publication, however, Fading Feast has proven to be not a fond farewell, but rather the forerunner of reawakened interest in these edible treasures. Written with evident passion and panache – and featuring eleven essays not included in the original edition – Fading Feast is as timely and savory today as when Raymond Sokolov first se out to record our native culinary wisdom.”