How the Other Half Ate

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, working-class Americans had eating habits that were distinctly shaped by jobs, families, neighborhoods, and the tools, utilities, and size of their kitchens—along with their cultural heritage. How the Other Half Ate is a deep exploration by historian and lecturer Katherine Turner that delivers an unprecedented and thoroughly researched study of the changing food landscape in American working-class families from industrialization through the 1950s.

Relevant to readers across a range of disciplines—history, economics, sociology, urban studies, women’s studies, and food studies—this work fills an important gap in historical literature by illustrating how families experienced food and cooking during the so-called age of abundance. Turner delivers an engaging portrait that shows how America’s working class, in a multitude of ways, has shaped the foods we eat today.

Katherine Leonard Turner received her doctorate in history from the University of Delaware in 2008. She lives and teaches in the Philadelphia area.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

1. The Problem of Food
2. Factories, Railroads, and Rotary Eggbeaters: From Farm to Table
3. Food and Cooking in the City
4. Between Country and City: Food in Rural Mill Towns and Company Towns
5. “A Woman’s Work Is Never Done”: Cooking, Class, and Women’s Work
6. What’s for Dinner Tonight?

Notes
Bibliography
Index