Whether you're digging into a slice of cherry cheesecake, burning your tongue on a piece of fiery Jamaican jerk chicken, or slurping the broth from a juicy soup dumpling, eating in New York City is a culinary adventure unlike any other in the world.

An irresistible sampling of the city's rich food heritage, Gastropolis explores the personal and historical relationship between New Yorkers and food. Beginning with the origins of cuisine combinations, such as Mt. Olympus bagels and Puerto Rican lasagna, the book describes the nature of food and drink before the arrival of Europeans in 1624 and offers a history of early farming practices. Essays trace the function of place and memory in Asian cuisine, the rise of Jewish food icons, the evolution of food enterprises in Harlem, the relationship between restaurant dining and identity, and the role of peddlers and markets in guiding the ingredients of our meals. They share spice-scented recollections of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, and colorful vignettes of the avant-garde chefs, entrepreneurs, and patrons who continue to influence the way New Yorkers eat.

Touching on everything from religion, nutrition, and agriculture to economics, politics, and psychology, Gastropolis tells a story of immigration, amalgamation, and assimilation. This rich interplay between tradition and change, individual and society, and identity and community could happen only in New York.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Fusion City: From Mt. Olympus Bagels to Puerto Rican Lasagna and Beyond, by Cara De Silva
Part I. Places
1. The Lenapes: In Search of Pre-European Foodways in the Greater New York Region, by Anne Mendelson
1. The Food and Drink of New York from 1624 to 1898, by Andrew F. Smith
3. Digging for Food in Early New York City, by Nan A. Rothschild
4. My Little Town: A Brooklyn Girl's Food Voice, by Annie Hauck-Lawson
Part II. People
5. The Empire of Food: Place, Memory, and Asian "Ethnic Cuisines," by Martin F. Manalansan IV
6. The Culinary Seasons of My Childhood, by Jessica B. Harris
7. The Chefs, the Entrepreneurs, and Their Patrons: The Avant-Garde Food Scene in New York City, by Fabio Parasecoli
8. Chow Fun City: Three Centuries of Chinese Cuisine in New York City, by Harley Spiller
Part III. Trade
9. Hawkers and Gawkers: Peddling and Markets in New York City, by Suzanne Wasserman
10. Asphalt Terroir, by Joy Santlofer
11. The Soul of a Store, by Mark Russ Federman
12. Livin' la Vida Sabrosa: Savoring Latino New York, by Ramona Lee Pérez and Babette Audant
Part IV. Symbols
13. Cosa Mangia Oggi, by Annie Rachelle Lanzillotto
14. From the Big Bagel to the Big Roti? The Evolution of New York City's Jewish Food Icons, by Jennifer Berg
15. Cooking Up Heritage in Harlem, by Damian M. Mosley
16. Eating Out, Eating American: New York Restaurant Dining and Identity, by Mitchell Davis
17. Hungry City, by Janet Poppendieck and JC Dwyer
Contributors
Index