Barbara Haber

Author of From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals

8+ Works 206 Members 3 Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Haber has had a distinguished career as Curator of Books at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. Haber is a popular speaker and writer on culinary history and has been profiled in Newsweek, The New York Times, Bon Appetit, and other show more prominent publications. For her contributions to food and cooking, she was elected to the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who in American Food and Beverages, and given the prestigious M.F.K. Fisher Award by Les Dames d'Escoffier. She lives in Winchester, Massachusetts show less

Works by Barbara Haber

WOMEN IN AMERICA (Illini books) (1978) 16 copies

Women's Annual: 1980 The Year in Review (1981) 1 copy

The Women's Annual: 1981, The Year in Review (1982) 1 copy

The Women's Annual 1982-1983 (1983) 1 copy

The Women's annual, ... the year in review 1 copy

National Air and Space Museum 1 copy

300 Fragen zur Geburt (2009) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Best Food Writing 2002 (2002) — Contributor — 57 copies, 1 review

Tagged

301.41 HAB (1) American (3) American culinary history (2) American history (6) bibliography (2) Bibliography > Women (1) books (1) Contemporary Women's Movement (1) cookbook (3) cookbooks (3) cookery (5) cooking (16) culinary history (3) food (27) food and drink (2) food history (15) food literature (2) food writing (9) food-to-read (1) gender studies (1) Harvey Girls (2) herstory (1) history (33) intersectionality (1) literary criticism (1) Local Author -- Massachusetts (1) microhistory (2) N4 (1) non-fiction (25) recipes (2) reference (3) social history (6) space (1) to-read (6) unowned (2) USA (4) wishlist (2) women (3) women and art (1) women's history (2)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1934-04-01
Gender: female
Nationality: USA

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Reviews

From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of… by Barbara Haber

Engaging collection of food history essays. Haber draws on cookbooks, memoirs and other archival sources to tackle a number of topics, most of which I hadn't known or thought much about. (I most enjoyed learning about the Harvey Girls and the improvement of food along the railroads -- which also made me think, with a sigh, of Terry Pratchett's last book "Raising Steam.") I only wished the pieces weren't as short -- most of the subjects seem like they're worth a longer article or even a book of their own.… (more)

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simchaboston | 2 other reviews | Jun 24, 2015 |

From Hardtack to Homefries: An Uncommon History of… by Barbara Haber

Funky history of food in the U.S.- but not necessarily chronological. I enjoyed the discussion of the horrible food in the Roosevelt White House and how the Harvey girls came into being.

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mmadamslibrarian | 2 other reviews | May 10, 2011 |

From Hardtack to Homefries: An Uncommon History of… by Barbara Haber

Haber selects different aspects of American life from which to analyze our relationship to food. Some of her choices are intriguing, such as the Irish Potato Famine, which sent floods of immigrants to the US, and sent at least one American reformer to Ireland to try to help feed people. Gently humorous--particularly in the chapter about food reformers--always interesting, this book combines cookery with sociology.

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patience_crabstick | 2 other reviews | Jun 14, 2008 |

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