Booklist Review

With sepia-toned and full-color photographs, and with anecdotes and actual quotes from soldiers and sailors, Davis pieces together a history of mealtime on the Civil War battlefield. His research informs twentieth-century readers of 1860, hardships in a way no straightforward historical account could; the typical ration of bread or hardtack, for example, was nicknamed "sheet iron teeth dullers." Beverages, both hard and not, were highly prized; when sailors were threatened with the loss of their daily grog ration, near mutinies occurred. Reflecting the tastes of those days are more than 40 recipes, most updated for modern kitchens; plain, bland, and simple, they range from artificial oysters (corn is the substitute) and beaten biscuits to holiday treats such as sweet potato pudding. For the history-minded culinarian. ~--Barbara Jacobs