Blue Willow Plates & Black Iron Skillets:

A guide to sources on Southern food and foodways

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Suggested Subject Headings

The following subject headings may be used as search terms in any database that accepts LC Subject Headings. You can see that the headings in the list below become more specific as more terms are added. Should you use a heading but find no appropriate results, you can broaden your search by removing the last term in the heading.

For instance, searching the subject “Cookery -- South Carolina -- Charleston” may return no information on the fried seafood culture of the Calabash and Myrtle Beach areas of the state. Removing “Charleston” to create the subject “Cookery -- South Carolina” should sufficiently broaden your search to meet your needs.

When searching with LC Subject Headings, be sure to type them exactly as shown.

In addition to these subject headings, important keywords for an initial search include “food”, “south”, and “folk”. Any combination of these keywords can be expanded with the use of wildcards on one or more terms. Look for help with wildcards in your database's "advanced search" feature.

Library of Congress Subject Headings:

African Americans -- Southern States -- Folklore -- Dictionaries
African Americans -- Southern States -- Social life and customs -- Dictionaries
Baking
Barbecue cookery
Barbecue cookery -- computer network resources
Beverages -- Dictionaries
Cajuns -- Folklore
Cajuns -- Social life and customs
Confectionary
Cookery -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Cookery -- Appalachian Region, Southern -- History
Cookery -- Dictionaries
Cookery -- Kentucky
Cookery -- South Carolina -- Charleston
Cookery -- Virginia
Cookery (Cereals)
Cookery (Vegetables)
Cookery, American -- Dictionaries
Cookery, American -- Southern style (see note)
Cookery, Cajun
Dinners and dining -- Southern States -- History
Drinking customs -- Southern States -- History
Drinking customs -- United States -- Encyclopedias
Folklore -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Folklore -- Kentucky -- Periodicals
Folklore -- Periodicals
Folklore -- Southern States -- Bibliography
Folklore -- Southern States -- Discography
Folklore -- Southern States -- Periodicals
Folklore -- United States -- Periodicals
Folklore and history -- Periodicals
Food -- Dictionaries
Food habits -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Food habits -- Louisiana
Food habits -- Southern states
Food habits -- Southern States -- History
Food habits -- United States
Food habits -- United States -- Encyclopedias
Fruit -- United States -- Folklore
Grits -- Southern States
Gullah cookery -- South Carolina
Human geography -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Manners and customs -- Periodicals
Traditional medicine -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Vegetables -- United States -- Folklore

Library of Congress Geographic Headings:
(may be used in the same manner as LC Subject Headings)

Appalachian Region, Southern -- Social life and customs
Charleston (S.C.) -- Social life and customs
Kentucky -- Social life and customs -- Periodicals
Louisiana -- Social life and customs
Mississippi -- Civilization -- Periodicals
Southern States -- Civilization -- Dictionaries
Southern States -- Dictionaries and encyclopedias
Southern States -- History -- Periodicals
Southern States -- Periodicals
Southern States -- Social life and customs
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- Bibliography
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- Discography
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- History
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- Periodicals
United States -- History -- Abstracts -- Periodicals
United States -- History -- Indexes -- Periodicals
United States -- Social life and customs
United States -- Social life and customs -- Encyclopedias
United States -- Social life and customs -- Periodicals

Note:
Searching OCLC WorldCat for the subject “Cookery, American -- Southern style” as listed above will return over 1000 results. Most are recipe books. Many offer more than recipes in terms of their focus on a particular Southern locale or cuisine, its history, and the traditions associated with preparing food in that style.
This search is especially good for discovering local Southern food styles. It also works well for corralling many works on one particular local style - simply add one or two keywords to the subject search. For example, subject = Cookery, American -- Southern style AND keyword = Cajun.