It is a truth universally acknowledged that a food studies scholar in possession of a large library will nonetheless scour bookstores, yard sales, and the Little Free Library around the corner for a copy of their favorite food-centric childhood book. Perhaps it was Eric Carle’s rapacious caterpillar that made a lasting impression, or maybe the beefy precipitation in Rick Barba’s town of Chewandswallow. Or possibly a particular culinary scene has settled warmly into memory, such as a spunky Ramona Quimby taking one huge chomp out of a series of apples and tossing the rest of the fruit on the basement floor of her home on Klickitat Street. (For those unfamiliar with this scene in Beezus and Ramona, rest assured that the fictional apples did not go to waste—they were made into applesauce by Ramona’s resourceful mother and sister.) Just as our adult caretakers gradually introduced different forms of nutrition...

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