Oregon Trail Cooking (Exploring History Through Simple Recipes)

Grade 3-6-If readers like their history served up on a plate, then this series is for them. Historical narrative is blended with recipes of the time, thus giving glimpses of the period while introducing traditional foods of hungry cowboys, frontier families, and intrepid explorers of the 1800s. An editor's note explains that, "Although based on historical foods, recipes have been modernized and simplified for today's young cooks." Lewis and Clark draws clear connections from history to food by utilizing passages from Lewis's account of the journey. Foods and preparations follow the expedition's travels through various regions and include meals that are indigenous to the countryside. The favorite will probably be Cowboy Cooking. Heavily illustrated with photographs and complete with recipes for standard fare including biscuits, beans, and beef, this book gives readers a real sense of life on the dusty trail. There's even a section on etiquette and the cowboy "sweet tooth." Oregon Trail, the weakest of the three, intersperses recipes and historical information less smoothly. Perhaps it's the quirks of layout, but the placement of a lemonade recipe opposing the page giving an overview of the ill-fated Donner Party seems incongruous. Still, all three titles are visual delights that include many photographs and period illustrations.
Leslie Millrod, Westhampton Free Library, NY
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