THE PRIMAL CHEESEBURGER: A Generous Helping of...

THE PRIMAL CHEESEBURGER: A Generous Helping of Food History Served Up on a Bun by Elisabeth Rozin (Penguin: $8.95; 230 pp., paperback original). Rozin argues that a cheeseburger with fries and a Coke is the quintessential American meal: One that the nation’s citizens consume in staggering numbers and export throughout the world. She discusses each component (meat, bun, condiments, etc.) offering brief histories and comments, concluding that the cheeseburger offers a particularly appealing combination of red meat and fat: foods that were long restricted to the tables of the wealthy.