Setting the Table: Historians, Popular Writers, and Food History.

An essay is provided on historians' food history writing and food studies, including the popular food book "The Omnivore’s Dilemma," by Michael Pollan. Topics of food historiography, including local food, free trade, U.S. food supply, agricultural policy and the U.S. food company the United Fruit Company's impact on environmental degradation in developing Latin American countries, are discussed. The impact that Mexicans in the U.S. had on American food is also discussed.