The Hamburger

Except for some of the disgusting fare we cover in articles and book chapters, I tend to crave whatever we are discussing in my Poetics and Politics of Food Class. You may have heard me refer to it as my Foodie Lit Class. A couple of weeks ago, among other foodie things we discussed edamame beans, a review on a journalist nibbling on rat cuisine in China, and then a discussion about salt as it relates to history and literature, I was hungry. To clarify, I wasn't hungry for the sauteed rats; I rather pined for edamame beans sprinkled with a little pinch of salt tossed over my left shoulder to ward away evil spirits. Can you tell I embellished a bit on the last part? I did not partake in the tossing of the salt.

For this week, I nearly finished the book "The Hamburger" by Josh Ozersky. The title captures the story. The book is about the history of the hamburger. There are comics, illustrations, an appendices, and an index. The tone is conversational yet academic in regards to the amount of research placed in the book. Admittedly, to the chagrin of my vegan and vegetarian friends, I craved a hamburger. Yep, we paid homage to "Five Guys" and indulged.