Autorentext

Richard Foss has been writing about food and drink since 1986, when he became restaurant reviewer for the Los Angeles Reader Newspaper. Since then he has written for over twenty different publications, both journalistic and academic, authored a book on the history of rum, and written scholarly articles for the Encyclopedia of World Food Cultures and Oxford Companion to Sweets. He is currently on the board of the Culinary Historians of Southern California and is the California Curator for the Museum of the American Cocktail and the SoFAB Institute. You can see a full bio and read more of his writings at www.richardfoss.com.

Klappentext

In the history of cooking, there has been no more challenging environment than those craft in which humans took to the skies. The tale begins with meals aboard balloons and zeppelins, where cooking was accomplished below explosive bags of hydrogen, ending with space station dinners that were cooked thousands of miles below. This book is the first to chart that history worldwide, exploring the intricacies of inflight dining from 1783 to the present day, aboard balloons, zeppelins, land-based aircraft and flying boats, jets, and spacecraft. It charts the ways in which commercial travelers were lured to try flying with the promise of familiar foods, explains the problems of each aerial environment and how chefs, engineers, and flight crew adapted to them, and tells the stories of pioneers in the field. Hygiene and sanitation were often difficult, and cultural norms and religious practices had to be taken into account. The history is surprising and sometimes humorous-at times some ridiculous ideas were tried, and airlines offered some strange meals to try to attract passengers. It's an engrossing story with quite a few twists and turns, and this first book on the subject tells it with a light touch.

Zusammenfassung
This book explores the history of food in flight from hydrogen balloons to the space station: what was served, how and why; the problems with heating, cooling, and serving technology; logistics; overcoming cultural barriers; and the effect of altitude on our senses of taste and smell.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The First Toast
1: The Forerunners: Lessons From The Balloon Era
2: Luxury In The Skies-The Zeppelin Era
3: The Early Days of The Airplane Age (1920-1930)
4: Sidebar-The Technology of Heat in Flight before 1940
5: From 1930 to the Second World War-Diverging Paths
6: Land-based Craft From 1930 to the Outbreak of War
7: Sidebar-A Window Into The Design Process
8: World War II and the Postwar Bonanza (1941-50)
9: Sidebar-Physiology of Taste in Flight
10: Competition, Regulation, and the Jet Age (1950-58)
11: Sidebar: Airline Food in Popular Culture
12: Jet Age Mass Transit and Luxury Competition (1958-66)
13: Sidebar: Technology of Heat in Flight, Part Two
14: Jumbo Jets, Excess, and Cultural Expression (1966-75)
15: Sidebar-The Elusive History of Special Meals
16: Years of Chaos and Change (1975-85)
17: Sidebar-Designing The Flying Meal
18: The Decline And Fall of Inflight Dining (1985-Present)
19: Tubes and Cubes: Food in space (1961-65)
20: Commercialization of Space Food on Earth
21: Apollo, Soyuz, and Variety In Space (1966-1994)
22: Sidebar-The Difficulties of Cooking in Space
23: Shuttles, The ISS, and Taikonauts (1981-Present)
24: Recipes
Recommended Reading: Books and Websites
Appendix: Unsolved Questions
Index