Blue Willow Plates & Black Iron Skillets:

A guide to sources on Southern food and foodways

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General Sources

There are few general reference works directly related to this topic. Rather, the researcher must try her luck with an amalgam of current and backdated dictionaries and encyclopedias on the separate topics of food, folklore, and the South. These sources should satisfy the researcher’s questions on terminology, facts, and chronologies of events.

Dictionaries:

An A to Z of Food and Drink
John Ayto
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
375 pages
ISBN 0192803514
Electronic edition available through Oxford Reference Online (subscription required for full access):
http://www.oxfordreference.com
Contains over 1300 entries describing the "origin, meaning, and development of a host of gastronomic terms" (publisher’s description, retrieved December 1, 2005 from title homepage at http://www.oxfordreference.com).

A Dictionary and Catalog of African American Folklife of the South
Sherman E. Pyatt & Alan Johns
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999
188 pages, 18 pages of plates, illustrations, index, bibliographic references.
ISBN 0313279993
LC Subjects:
African Americans -- Southern States -- Folklore -- Dictionaries
African Americans -- Southern States -- Social life and customs -- Dictionaries
Folklore -- Southern States -- Bibliography
Folklore -- Southern States -- Discography
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- Bibliography
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- Discography
Booklist writes a very positive review of the entire work, but advises that the extensive bibliography (over 1900 sources) is more valuable than the limited dictionary section. Read the Booklist review and publisher’s description of the book at Amazon.com.

Funk & Wagnall’s Cook’s and Diner’s Dictionary: a lexicon of food, wine, and culinary terms
Introduction by M.F.K. Fisher
New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1969
274 pages, illustrations, maps
LC Subjects:
Food -- Dictionaries
Cookery -- Dictionaries

Encyclopedias:

Encyclopedia of Food and Culture
Solomon H. Katz, Editor, & William Woys
New York: Scribner, 2003
3 volumes, 699 pages, illustrations.
ISBN 0684314169 (electronic book)
Electronic edition available through Gale Virtual Reference Library (subscription required for full access):
http://www.gale.com/gvrl/
600 articles; highly recommended by the American Library Association. Read the Booklist review at Amazon.com.

Encyclopedia of North American Eating & Drinking: traditions, customs & rituals
Kathlyn Gay
Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 1996
289 pages, illustrations.
ISBN 0874367565
LC Subjects:
Food habits – United States – Encyclopedias
Drinking customs -- United States -- Encyclopedias
United States -- Social life and customs -- Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture
Charles Reagan Wilson & William Ferris, co-editors
Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989
1634 pages, illustrations, index and bibliographic references.
ISBN 0807818232
LC Subjects:
Southern States -- Civilization -- Dictionaries
Southern States -- Dictionaries and encyclopedias

This [Encyclopedia of Southern Culture] monumental reference work analyzes in both broad strokes and minute detail all things southern. In some 24 sections every aspect of southern culture is explored, dissected, and described, from agriculture to women's life. Each section includes an overview essay, alphabetically arranged thematic articles, and brief topical/biographical sketches. All articles are signed, and the cast of contributors numbers in the hundreds. While the sections on literature and music are among the longest, there are excellent sections on black life, folk life, social class, violence, etc. Two of the most fascinating, "history and manners" and the "mythic south" discuss all things quintessentially southern--barbeque, chitterlings, fried chicken, mint juleps, and moon pies…”(Brian E. Coutts, Western Kentucky University Library, Bowling Green; review for Library Journal, 1989; retrieved from Amazon.com. December 1, 2005)

The New Encylopedia of Southern Culture
Charles Wilson Regan, General Editor
Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006-
24 volumes (projected), illustrations, index and bibliographic references.
ISBN 9780807830031 (v. 1); 9780807830130 (v. 2); 9780807830284 (v. 3); 9780807830291 (v. 4)
LC Subjects:
Southern States -- Civilization -- Encyclopedias.
Southern States -- Encyclopedias.
Contents:
Volume 1: Religion
Volume 2: Geography
Volume 3: History
Volume 4: Myth, manners, and memory

"Based on the popular reference The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, this...24-volume edition...focuses on individual topics from the original publication. Articles from the first edition have been revised and updated, and new entries have been added to reflect changes--such as globalization and immigration--that have affected southern culture in the past 20 years" (Inside flap of first volume, retrieved from Amazon.com. January 8, 2007).

Encyclopedia of the South
Robert O’Brien
New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1985
583 pages, illustrations, index.
ISBN 0871967286
LC Subjects:
Southern States -- Dictionaries and encyclopedias
2500 entries; reviewed by Library Journal as broad and attractive, but repeating information found in other sources. The reviewer found several errors while fact-checking the work (Ron Chepesiuk, Winthrop College Library, Rock Hill, South Carolina; review for Library Journal, 1986). Read the full review at Amazon.com.

Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
Andrew F. Smith, Editor
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
2 volumes, 1584 pages, illustrated.
ISBN 0195154371 (set)
LC Subjects:
Food – Dictionaries
Cookery, American – Dictionaries
Beverages -- Dictionaries
Received excellent reviews from both Publisher’s Weekly and School Library Journal. Read these and more at Amazon.com.

Other:

American Foodways: what, when, why and how we eat in America
Charles Camp
Little Rock: August House, 1989
127 pages, illustrated.
ISBN 0874830966
LC Subjects:
Food Habits – United States
United States – Social life and customs

The Wide, Wide World of Food: fascinating facts and folklore about man’s progress in the art of eating. A food anthology in five parts
Charles W. Williams
New York: Vantage Press, 1972
201 pages.
ISBN 0533000726
LC Subjects:
Food
Cookery