Traces the colorful culinary history of immigrants and the impact that their native foods and unique neighborhoods-from New York City's Lower East Side to New Orleans' Italian Quarter-has had on American folk culture.

During the Depression, the Colombrosians, an Armenian family, began bottling and selling the yogurt they made on their small Massachusetts dairy farm. They labeled their bottles "Columbo" because nobody could pronounce their name. The Columbo story, the journey of ethnic food from exotic product to everyday item, has become legendary. The World on a Plate tells the story of the Colombrosians and other immigrant families who have changed and influenced our food and created a uniquely American culinary pastiche. Joel Denker, a longtime food and travel writer and scholar of American folklore, has conducted fascinating interviews with a range of ethnic-food merchants, crafting a history of our colorful food makers - the grocers, vendors, manufacturers, importers, restaurateurs - and the products they have given us.