Culinary Campaign: A History of Military Cuisine with Stories, Songs, and Recipes

by Lon P. Dawson with Floyd “Wes” Higgins and James Steinman

Culinary Campaign takes us back to the original thirteen colonies and the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. You’ll learn what the troops ate at Valley Forge as well as how to reproduce those meals yourself. Subsequent chapters focus on Northern and Southern provisions during the Civil War, how frontier soldiers foraged for food in the West, what troops ate at the front lines of WWI, how soldiers in Vietnam supplemented their rations packs, and even what soldiers of the future may survive on. All in all, it is a fascinating look at the role food has played in our country’s military campaigns. There are approximately 200 recipes with many stories, anecdotes, and songs to accompany them.

Food, Folklore, and Mythology: Peru

Edited by Joanne Asala, Kimberly Plaxton-Drobot, and Robert Calhoun

The first of a planned series exploring the connection between food and folklore, this collection contains nearly 200 delicious examples of Peruvian cuisine. Discover how Spanish, Portuguese, African, Middle Eastern, and Chinese food traditions mingled with the indigenous cooking methods of the Incas and other civilizations of Peru.

Cradle Cruise: A Navy Bluejacket Remembers Life Aboard the USS Trever During World War II

by Lon P. Dawson

From the Author:

The term “Cradle Cruise” was US Navy slang designating the enlistment of a recruit who was less than eighteen years of age. It extended to his 21st birthday, rather than the specified four- to six-year hitch. In my case, it amounted to four years, five months, fourteen days, and four hours. It was the most memorable, happiest, and certainly the most formative period of my life.

This book is an account of how I came to join the United States Navy and my personal recollections of my experiences and observations as a Bluejacket. Admittedly, it is fictionalized to some extent for the sake of story-telling, and for reasons of confidentiality. Comments of individuals have been paraphrased, and some people are composites of the many men and women I came to know. There will, I suppose, be those who will read this book and think to recognize themselves. Others may not. It is their choice some fifty years after it all took place.