The Dinner Guest Lecturer

"The story of Thanksgiving is all made up, you know; it was completely invented by New England historians beginning in the 1840s. After the Civil War, the country needed an origin myth, and we chose this one."

Startling as this might sound, writer Andrew F. Smith knows whereof he speaks and is happy to expound upon it. A food scholar/historian and editor in chief of the new Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (Oxford University Press, $195), Smith likes nothing better than tackling a food topic and wrestling it into veracity. He's writing a book about the history and cultural context of the turkey in America, so the origins and accoutrements of our most sacred national holiday are much on his mind.

"I love to discover information about the obscure, unknown, forgotten, and neglected – and I love to share it," Smith says. "If, in the process, I also disprove some conventional wisdom, so much the better."

Until recently, there wasn't much academic precedent for the practice of culinary history. Anyone could – and did – say anything, and there was no one to verify or dispute it. All too frequently, misinformation has been replicated so often and without question that it becomes accepted as true. Only since the 1980s has the serious study of food within culture developed, evolving out of anthropology, economics, and sociology.

A respected researcher, writer, and debunker of myths, Smith has produced 14 books and numerous journal articles, many on aspects of food in America. He's probably best known for his work on the history of tomatoes, but he's also published books about popcorn, ketchup, and (my favorite title) Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea.

Culinary writing notwithstanding, Smith is quite a busy man. He teaches five courses at Manhattan's New School University: two about food history and three on food writing. He consults for food television productions and documentaries, including for the History Channel, A&E, the Food Network, and PBS. And this is on top of his full-time position as president of the American Forum for Global Education (a think tank that creates and distributes educational materials to help students develop global perspectives). Regarding his varied professional hats, he maintains that "food history is my hobby – some people go into bars for fun, some of us go to libraries."

When I cautiously opined that adding the huge Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America project to his workload sounded daunting, Smith scoffed and said it was just a matter of organizing time and resources. "My normal pattern is to write every day from 5 to 9am before I go to my job. You can get a lot done in four uninterrupted hours a day. I planned to do such a project after I retired, but when Oxford Press came knocking in 2001, I couldn't say no. And I'm an administrator; I know how to organize and lead people to accomplish a project."

Under Smith's editorship, the Encyclopedia – with 800 articles about all aspects of American food – took three years and 207 writers to complete. Sales of the two-volume work wildly exceeded expectations, and it's entering a fourth printing. But Smith sees this as just the beginning. He expects to have an online version available shortly, regularly updated and with 10,000 entries projected by 2010. "I thought I knew something about culinary history before I started this project and was surprised to find that I really didn't," he explains. "It's much more complex than I realized, and what makes up American food is far more than we've covered in the Encyclopedia."

In light of Americans' ever-increasing interest in all things culinary, keep your eye on Andrew Smith. A decade ago, who'd have guessed that chefs would become such rock stars? So, who knows, food scholars and historians could be the celebrities of tomorrow.

Andrew Smith will be in Austin on Jan. 30, speaking to the Foodways Group of Austin on "What's American About American Food?" The public is welcome – for more information about the presentation and about Foodways, go to "Upcoming Programs" at www.main.org/foodways.