Birdseye

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky, 251 pages

In this biography, Kurlansky delves into the life of Clarence Birdseye, a man best known for his innovations in fast-freezing food, changing the nature of kitchens, grocery stores, and meal-planning forever. Not a lot is known about Birdseye, who was a gregarious, curious, and adventurous man, but one who was paradoxically very private about himself. As Kurlansky notes in the book, while it's easy to find records of what Birdseye ate, hunted, and experimented on, it's nearly impossible to find any details about his marriage, his political leanings, or his relationships with his family.

Perhaps because of this, the book seems a bit thin on the ground in places — at times, I felt I was reading passages that were rewritten or perhaps leftover from Kurlansky's other books, specifically Salt. That said, when I picked this one up, I didn't expect to be hearing about adventures in Newfoundland, New Mexico, and my hometown in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana (I found that last bit particularly fascinating). While I can't say this was my favorite biography, I did enjoy it, and definitely learned a lot along the way.