The American buff goose. Amish deer tongue lettuce. The Nancy Hall sweet potato. The mulefoot hog. When food historian Sarah Lohman stumbled on these fantastical-sounding ingredients in a database of vanishing foods called the Ark of Taste, she set off on a journey across the United States to discover more ingredients and traditions that had been abandoned in the annals of history.
The endeavor was the latest installment of a storied career that has included cooking 19th-century recipes at a living history museum and chronicling American cuisine in her book Eight Flavors, which documents how foods like black pepper and sriracha have helped reshape what Americans eat.
