2 Popular books. Cheyenne Walker

Kessler, David A. The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2009. Print.

This book argues that sugar, fat, and salt activates neurons involved in taste perception, reward, and conscious control of eating. For some individuals, after being exposed to hyper-stimulating foods, they develop what is known as conditioned hyper-eating. Kessler states that food that is layered and loaded with sugar, fat, and salt holds a great sway over the American society. This book looks over the last three decades at modern global food companies, and shows that they have taken full advantage of this weakness of human biology. The End of Overeating will be very useful as I further my research. It is full of new information that answers many of my questions.

Beahrs, Andrew. Twain's Feast: Searching for America's Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.

This book argues that many of the dishes that were once all made from fresh foods from grasslands, woods, and waters have been lost in the shift to industrialized food. Andrew Beahrs focuses this book on when he first read mark Twain's classic work A Tramp Abroad, he saw that the dishes he consumed were regional in the truest sense of the word. The dishes were all local, all wild, and all lost. Beahrs reminds us of how food can shape our sense of where we come from and who we are. This book will be useful in my research because it shows an example of how once abundant native foods have been lost with the passing time.