Fun Foods of America: A History of Iconic Delights, Famous Brands, and Legendary Tastemakers

The history of fun foods is fast, energetic, and full of surprises. Ever-present and multi-faceted, fun foods have made appearances at birthday parties and lunch boxes in numerous guises, from Twinkies to energy bars. No mere high calorie treats--fun foods were instrumental to the core of how we live, and integral to the influence of Domestic Science, the shifting power of women at home, the use of fun foods as a weapon during war and the corporate swells that swallowed fun foods whole--and turned it into virtually everything we eat today. Each chapter contains recipes and interviews about fun foods with everyone from the 90-year-old daughter of a West Virginia coal miner to an African American great-grandmother raised in a sharecropper family in the South. Fun Foods of America will take them to free websites to find online cookbooks dating back to the 1600s (with transcriptions!) and those with original paintings, drawings, and photographs of venues such as the World Fairs, where the newest fun food was introduced.

Susan Benjamin is one of the nation’s leading experts on historic fun foods. She is owner of True Treats, the nation’s only historic candy company with over 500 products including cakes, teas, syrups, gums, waters, cocktail mixes, sweet vinegars and more. She regularly receives one million-plus visitors (and potential book buyers) each year. Ms. Benjamin and her business, True Treats, have won tremendous praise everywhere from the Food Network to PBS to delish.com and was even one of the questions on Jeopardy!