Built on Bread and Beef: The West Bottoms and Kansas City’s Culinary Heritage

Related Organization: Kansas City Public Library

From its inception, Kansas City has been intricately tied to provisioning, hospitality, and good food – first as an outfitter for pioneers heading west, and later as a provider of meat and wheat for large swaths of the United States The West Bottoms has played a major role in the city’s legacy as the nation’s hospitality crossroads. 

Drawing from her books Kansas City: A Food Biography and Iconic Restaurants of Kansas City, culinary historian Andrea Broomfield examines the West Bottoms’ stockyards, meatpacking, and hospitality industries -- from 1870, the year after the Hannibal Bridge made Kansas City a railway hub, to 1951, when a flood devastated the area. She further details how the Golden Ox, Henry Perry’s and Arthur Bryant’s barbecue restaurants, Agnos Lunch Wagon, and other eateries tied the West Bottoms to Kansas City’s culinary heritage and added to its nationwide reputation for good food and a good time. 

Broomfield is a professor and chair of the English Department at Johnson County Community College. She is the author of three books and numerous articles pertaining to food history. Her presentation is co-sponsored by the Historic West Bottoms Association in conjunction with its West Bottoms Heritage Days 2025 celebration.