Deborah Reinhardt Libri

Missouri's history is best told through food, from its Native American and later French colonial roots to the country's first viticultural area. Learn about the state's vibrant barbecue culture, which stems from African American cooks, including Henry Perry, Kansas City's barbecue king. Trace the evolution of iconic dishes such as Kansas City burnt ends, St. Louis gooey butter cake and Springfield cashew chicken. Discover how hardscrabble Ozark farmers launched a tomato canning industry and how a financially strapped widow, Irma Rombauer, would forever change how cookbooks were written. Historian and culinary writer Suzanne Corbett and food and travel writer Deborah Reinhardt also include more than eighty historical recipes to capture a taste of Missouri's history that spans more than two hundred years.

The Gateway City was a popular stop for miners, trappers and settlers heading west, so offices and wholesaler warehouses lined the riverfront. Railroads and steamboats brought an abundance of goods, including green coffee. By the early twentieth century, St. Louis-with more than seventy roasting companies-was the coffee capital of the United States. Some coffee businesses-including Blanke, Forbes and Evans-faded, while Ronnoco remains, working alongside newer generation roasters such as Kaldi's and dozens more. Author Deborah Reinhardt traces an industry that helped shape St. Louis history and shows how today's creative coffee professionals continue to influence a culinary culture. Book jacket.