This Is the Plate: Utah Food Traditions

by Eric A. Eliason, Lynne S McNeill, Carol Edison

The first book-length treatment of Utah’s distinctive food heritage, this volume contains work by more than sixty subject-matter experts, including scholars, community members, event organizers, journalists, bloggers, photographers, and food producers. It features recipes and photographs of food and beverages. Utah’s food history is traced from precontact Native American times through the arrival of multinational Mormon pioneers, miners, farmers, and other immigrants to today’s moment of “foodie” creativity, craft beers, and “fast-casual” restaurant-chain development. Contributors also explore the historical and cultural background for scores of food-related tools, techniques, dishes, traditions, festivals, and distinctive ingredients from the state’s religious, regional, and ethnic communities as well as Utah-based companies. In a state much influenced by Latter-day Saint history and culture, iconic items like Jell-O salads, funeral potatoes, fry sauce, and the distinctive “Utah scone” have emerged as self-conscious signals of an ecumenical Utah identity. Scholarly but lively and accessible, this book will appeal to both the general reader and the academic folklorist. 
 

Genres: Nonfiction

450 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2020

About the author

Eric Alden Eliason is a writer and professor in the English department at Brigham Young University, where he teaches courses on literature and folklore.

Reviews

[Liz Busby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone who lives in Utah, has ever visited Utah, is/has been Mormon, or is interested in the Mormon culture should read this book. These essays were a delightful balance between scholarly and mainstream. I learned fascinating stories behind Utah's iconic foods (like jello, funeral potatoes, and Dutch oven cooking). The book also covers indigenous and ethnic minority food cultures in Utah. Now I finally understand why Utah has so many Greek burger restaurants (Apollo & Crown Burger being the biggest). It was nice to read something that made me feel like not only was my native culture not something to be looked down on, but it was worth studying and celebrating. This book cemented my pride in being a Utah-born girl.

[Shelbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to read about the interesting Utah food culture. Everything from fry sauce to Mormon potatoes to Hawaiian Haystacks to Cafe Rio to Crown Burger to Bear Lake raspberries to Snelgrove’s ice cream to dirty sodas. It was one of those books that are good to read for dinner party trivia facts. I will say as interesting as it was to read these collated essays, it’s not exactly the most engaging book to read out loud (I tried on a road trip haha). Better to read and give people the cliff notes after haha.

[Yaaresse]

DNF @ 12% for technical reasons with the Kindle edition.

This looked like it was going to be an interesting set of essays on a region's food cultures. For someone (like me) who is into cultural geography and regional culinary histories, a gold mine perhaps. There's lots of history, lots of photos, some recipes, essays, etc. The print version is probably very nice if you have 20/20 vision. The Kindle version is a royal pain in the ass. Whoever formatted it for Kindle edition decided to make use of exactly NONE of the Kindle app's accessibility features.

The default font is small, and the text layout is double column. This is all fixed formatting. You cannot set for high or low contrast, change the margins/line spacing, enlarge the font, or do anything else to make it more legible. I am not going to do the zoom-pinch and two-finger shuffle on Every. Single. Page. on a 379-page book.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you always wanted to know about the weird Mormon food in Utah but were afraid to ask.

Includes recipes, the history of the first KFC (in Utah, by a Utahan), various hilarious SLC Olympic pins: Cheerios in baggies, a french fry dipped in fry sauce, funeral casserole, green jello, over the top thick shakes, the dutch oven, and others. Well researched, comprehensive and inclusive, intelligently written, and a must read for anyone interested in food and/or associated with Utah Mormons.

[Elise Noorda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dear friend sent me this book, which has some of my favorite things to learn about - food, history, and traveling up and down I-15 through Utah. History, folklore, and tradition regarding food in this unique state. From fry sauce and Snelgroves, to small town annual crop celebrations and the rivalry between Cafe Rio and Costa Vida - so much to learn!

[Jessica Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so interesting! I feel like I understand utah culture enough to appreciate it now. So many fun facts. Definitely a textbook so I got bored at times but I read it pretty quick because I loved most of it.

[Anneli Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister read this book and loved it. So many fun insights into the cuisine from my home state. I related to a lot of it and learned some things I didn’t know. I think I’ll try some of the recipes and let some of them go. I enjoyed this book a lot

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't expect this book to be so scholarly. It was very well done and I learned some interesting history about the state I now live in.

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fun read will appeal mostly to Utahns and those who love them. It's a collection of essays, photos, recipes about the weird and sometimes wonderful Utah foodways, collected by folklorists. They try to explain some of the more popular food traditions of Utahns, such as fry sauce, scones, preparedness, Sunday roast dinner, green jello. (I don't actually know anyone who still eats jello and I get sort of miffed when that's what Utah's food scene gets boiled down to. Fortunately, the book isn't as snooty as I am and makes the most of the crazy.)

In truth, most of the recipes are too weird for me to want to try (Sweet Pickle Pie, Elk Roast, Baked Postum Custard) but it was fun to read them. (And there are some that sound good--Peach-Pear Marmalade, Mrs. Fields Cookies). Lots of history here, too. None of the essays was too academic; all were accessible. The photos were really fun. I would have liked more! Glimpses into a past that can be easily forgotten.

I especially enjoyed Jill Terry Rudy's glimpse at the Cafe Rio-Costa Vida wars. There were also interesting essays on sustainability, refugees and immigration. And funeral potatoes.

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun exploration of a strange topic – foods unique to Utah. Written by folklorists and historians, it takes a serious view of a frivolous topic. I like the small bites, haha. I heard the authors speak and found them to be light-hearted but substantive. Jell-O is Utah’s state snack; we have the highest per capita of Jell-O consumption. “Ordinary Jell-O is made, set, cut into strips or balls, frozen, rolled in crumbs similar to Panko, and then deep fried; it is better tasting than it may sound.” Utah issued a Jell-O cloisonne charm during the 2002 Olympics. Go figure. I especially liked the authors’ insights about the separation between food from religious culture and food from Utah culture in general. Also, the liquor parts were interesting – all local products exploit the sensational connection to polygamy or Utah weirdness such as the beer “Polygamy Porter.” You can vicariously eat your way through fry sauce, funeral potatoes, and salt water taffy. “Did your mother ever pack Clover Club potato chips in your lunch?” “Do you remember the hard rolls at Hotel Utah?”

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is what made me decide to read it. It is a collection of essays... I guess is what you would call them. They were interesting and I feel like I learned something from each one. I'm quitting this book partly because there are things I want to read more but mostly because the e-book version is basically a PDF so I have to double click on each page, zoom in, read column 1, read column 2, then double tap to zoom out and then turn the page. Which is just too tedium and there are some pages that aren't broken into 2 columns and I don't want to keep going back and forth for every. single. line... so then the font is just small and hard to read. I'm trying to read it on a phone not a fancier bigger reading device, which might help. I would like to finish reading it someday but I'll be looking into getting a physical copy and not the convenient (or not so convenient in this case) e-book.

[Lori Voshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for background information for a project that I am working on, and wow. What I learned! These essays were incredibly entertaining and informative. If you have ever wondered about the origins of fry sauce or why Utahns eat so much green jello, look no further. You will also find out about Utah's international cultures from the Japanese to Greek as well as it's unique Mormon settlement and heritage---all through food (recipes included). The essays are short, so you can nibble away at this book without feeling too guilty or overwhelmed. Highly recommended for the casual reader and the scholarly reader.

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of essays and recipes was put together by folklorists, which made it a super interesting look into backgrounds and contemporary instances of Utah’s celebrated foodways (a new term I learned).

I loved reading about the origins of fry sauce, utah scones, funeral potatoes and the cafe rio/costa Vida battles. There were also great nods to the soda wars and pie n beer day. I’m sure the revised edition will include the cookie company battles too- hahahaha. But in all, it was a fantastic collaboration and fun to read.