Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West

Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire that Civilized the Wild West

by Stephen Fried
Random House, 544 pp., $27

Who was Fred Harvey, and why should we care? If this were any time from the mid-19th century through World War II, there'd be no need to ask – virtually everybody in America knew the answer. Fred Harvey was a national brand long before the concept existed. His brand – restaurants, hotels, and elegant resorts built along the rail lines between Kansas City and California – meant legendary fresh food and hot coffee served by crisply uniformed armies of cheerful, disciplined young women known as Harvey Girls. It meant impeccable linens, china, and cutlery in dusty frontier railroad towns. It meant passengers could leave a train to enjoy a satisfying, chef-prepared meal and be back on board as it departed half an hour later.

Since collective memory is short and influential legends disappear with barely a trace, author Stephen Fried has undertaken telling us 21st century folk the fascinating story of a penniless, sickly British immigrant who brought fine dining to the American West and recruited and trained the first widespread female work force in the country. Paralleling the rise of national parks, Harvey developed the idea of cultural tourism in the American West, made himself a fortune, and established a multigenerational family empire.

The Westward Expansion across the continent is one of the epic stories of U.S. history, and railroads played a critical role in that nation-building endeavor. This book provides a graphic view into this larger context via the multiple lenses of gastronomy, hospitality, food business, tourism, railroad politics, race relations, and one Englishman's path to the great American dream. It's engagingly written and impressively documented, including photos, maps, and Harvey House recipes. After reading, you'll never contemplate airplane fare or roadside food again without wistfully longing for Fred Harvey's vanished vision of comfortable, hospitable travel.