Blue Willow Plates & Black Iron Skillets:

A guide to sources on Southern food and foodways

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The sources listed in this section are often similar to the detailed sources. Many combine cultural analysis, history lessons, and recipes between one set of covers. These sources, though, address a specific culture, geographic area, or specialty ingredient of the South. They are far too specific to be recommended as representative of the entire region. The sources in this section are grouped by cultural or geographic theme.

Atlantic Coast - Low country and island food and foodways:

Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way: smokin’ joe butter beans, ol’ ‘fuskie fried crab rice, sticky bush blackberry dumpling, and other Sea Island favorites
Sallie Ann Robinson and Gregory Wrenn Smith
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003
ISBN 0807827835
LC Subjects:
Cookery, American -- Southern style
Gullah cookery -- South Carolina
LC Class: TX715.2.S68; Dewey Class: 641.59757
Publisher’s Weekly praises this book for its almost anthropological look at a disappearing way of life on Daufuskie Island through the food cooked and eaten there. Read the review at Amazon.com.

Hoppin’ John’s lowcountry cooking: recipes and ruminations from Charleston & the Carolina coastal plain
John Martin Taylor
New York: Bantam Books, 1992
345 pages, map, index, bibliographic references.
ISBN 0553082310
LC Subjects:
Cookery, American -- Southern style
Cookery -- South Carolina -- Charleston
Charleston (S.C.) -- Social life and customs
LC Class: TX715.2.S68; Dewey Class 641.59757
Taylor provides an accessible, historically considered introduction and reference source for the sophisticated traditional food of this region. The recipes, many of the ingredients, and the history behind them are intensely local, but the author’s accuracy and attention to detail have made the book a classic of this cuisine since its publication. Read available reviews and look inside the book at Amazon.com.

Barbecue:

BBQ [Barbecue]: a Southern cultural icon [Thesis in electronic format]
Laura Claire Dove
Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1995
Includes bibliographic references.
Retrieve content at: http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7EMA95/dove/bbq.html
LC Subjects:
Barbecue cookery
Barbecue cookery -- computer network resources
LC Class: TX840.B3
Dove divides her thesis into clear chapters that discuss barbecue from historical, regional, and cultural points of view. She includes a small sample of menu covers from barbecue restaurants and, more interestingly, a number of barbecue and barbecue-related recipes from published authors and her own files. The site looks dated, but is easy to navigate.

Barbecue
Sylvia Lovegren
American Heritage, V.54, No.3, pp.36-43
Includes illustrations and photographs.
ISSN 0002-8738
Abstract from ABC-CLIO:
"Features barbecuing in America, from colonial days to 2003. Calling barbecue a "purely American food," the author notes the many varieties and recipes available in different parts of the country. While pork predominates in the South, beef is more often the meat of choice in the West. The barbecue has played a role in American politics, and men have usually been the cooks. The barbecue became an American staple in the 1980's, appealing to all regions and classes. The author includes a list of some of the outstanding barbecue restaurants in America."

From Garden and Orchard:

Beans, Greens, and Sweet Georgia Peaches: the Southern way of cooking fruits and vegetables
Damon Lee Fowler
New York: Broadway Books, 1998
308 pages, illustrations, maps, index, bibliographic references.
ISBN 0767901282
LC Subjects:
Cookery (Vegetables)
Cookery, American -- Southern style
Fowler modernizes many classic Southern ingredients and recipes in this book. Some readers may disapprove of his departures from tradition. Others will appreciate the chance to enjoy fruits and vegetables cooked with Southern flair while avoiding the specter of the “Southern-style” vegetable stereotype. Read available reviews at Amazon.com.

It’s Grits [DVD]
R. Stanley Woodward, director
Stanley Woodward Films, producer
Woodward Films, copyright 1978, digitally restored and re-released 2005
LC Subjects:
Grits -- Southern States
Cookery (Cereals)
Southern States -- Social life and customs.
“Documentary about grits. Filmed in Atlanta (Ga.), Camden (S.C.), and other southern locales. Includes Craig Claiborne demonstrating how he cooks up grits. Also includes an official 'Georgia Grits Permit' which allowed one to carry five pounds of grits over the Mason-Dixon line without having one's luggage searched” (from WorldCat; unattributed but probably producer’s summary. OCLC record no. 62332699).

Rooted in America: foodlore of popular fruits and vegetables
David Scofield Wilson and Angus Kress Gillespie, editors
Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1999
239 pages, illustrations, index, bibliographic references.
ISBN 157233052X
LC Subjects:
Fruit -- United States -- Folklore
Vegetables -- United States -- Folklore
Food habits -- United States
United States -- Social life and customs
This book is praised for its detailed examination of everyday foods and for the historical accounts that accompany each chapter. Look inside the book at Amazon.com.

Kentucky and Virginia - Country food and foodways:

Charles Patteson’s Kentucky Cooking
Charles Patteson and Craig Emerson; illustrated by Shirley Felts
New York: Harper & Row, 1988
224 pages, illustrations, index.
ISBN 0060158301
LC Subjects:
Cookery, American -- Southern style
Cookery -- Kentucky
LC Class: TX715; Dewey Class 641.59769
Patteson’s recipes focus on local Kentucky specialties, including burgoo and all things Derby. Read the Library Journal review at Amazon.com.

In Pursuit of Flavor
Edna Lewis, with Mary Goodbody; illustrated by Louisa Jones Waller
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000
(original edition New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988)
323 pages, illustrations, index.
ISBN 0813919894
LC Subjects:
Cookery -- Virginia
Cookery, American -- Southern style
Both Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal praise Lewis for the depth of background knowledge and experience she draws on to create the recipes and remarks in this highly regarded book. Many of the recipes are for traditional Southern dishes; some well known, some nearly forgotten. Others carry Caribbean or African influences, and some are of her own devising. Read available reviews and look inside the book at Amazon.com.

Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken: the heart and soul of Southern country kitchens; seasoned with memories and melodies from country music stars
Ronni Lundy
New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991
364 pages, illustrations, index.
ISBN 0871136007
LC Subject:
Cookery, American -- Southern style
This book is praised for containing authentic Kentucky recipes. Look inside the book at Amazon.com.

Louisiana - Creole and Cajun food and foodways:

Cajun Foodways
C. Paige Guiterrez
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992
149 pages, 8 pages of plates, illustrations, index, bibliographic references.
ISBN 0878055622; 0878055630 (paperback)
LC Subjects:
Cajuns -- Folklore
Food habits -- Louisiana
Cookery, Cajun
Cajuns -- Social life and customs
Louisiana -- Social life and customs
The Publisher’s Weekly review praises this book as well-researched and descriptive. The author carefully analyzes her subject matter to present the cultural meaning behind the food practices she describes. Read the review and look inside the book at Amazon.com.

The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine
Chef John D. Folse
Gonzales, Louisiana: Chef John D. Folse and Company Publishing, 2004
849 pages, 735 recipes, approx. 700 photographs.
ISBN 0970445717
Folse’s book is hailed as the definitive collection of Cajun and Creole recipes, foodways, and culinary history. Look inside the book at Amazon.com.

Louisiana Cookery
Mary Land; illustrated by Morris Henry Hobbs
Preface by Owen Brennan
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005.
376 pages, illustrations
ISBN 157806757X
(reprint of 1954 text and illustrations)
A classic of Louisiana cookery and food history, reprinted by the University Press of Mississippi. Land’s book covers recipes from the entire state, with an emphasis on game that will be amusing for many modern cooks with little access to squirrel or bear. Land also discusses Louisiana’s contributions to the culture of cocktails.

A True and Delectable History of Creole Cooking
Bethany Ewald Bultman
American Heritage, V.38, No.1 (1986), pp.66-73
ISSN 0002-8738
Abstract from ABC-CLIO:
"Achieving culinary respectability after more than two centuries, Creole and Cajun cooking resulted from the contributions of many groups that settled in New Orleans. Lack of staples forced the area's early settlers to experiment, and the efforts of French nuns, black cooks from Africa, Spaniards, Asians, and others all contributed to New Orleans cuisine, creating a gastronomic melting pot."

Southern Appalachia - Mountain food and foodways:

Appalachian Folkways
John B. Rehder
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004
353 pages, illustrations, maps, index, bibliographic references.
ISBN 0801878799
LC Subjects:
Folklore -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Human geography -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Food habits -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Vernacular architecture -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Traditional medicine -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Appalachian Region, Southern -- Social life and customs
This book is widely praised for its accuracy, depth, and comprehensive presentation of Southern Appalachian folkways. Among its 9 chapters are one on foodways and one on folk medicines, which may be interesting for the student of traditional Southern recipes. Read available reviews and look inside the book at Amazon.com.

The Place Setting: timeless tastes of the Mountain South, from Bright Hope to Frog Level
Fred W. Sauceman
Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, March 2006
384 pages, illustrations, index, bibliographic references.
ISBN 0865549907
Sauceman is a regular contributor to the food section of the Kingsport [Tenn.] Times-News and teaches on Appalachian foodways at East Tennessee State University. This book collects many of his columns and other writings into a culinary tour of Northeast Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and Southwest Virginia. Read the complete publisher’s description at http://www.mupress.org/webpages/books/sauceman.html

Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: the folklore and art of Southern Appalachian cooking
Joseph E. Dabney; foreword by John Egerton
Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House, 1998
493 pages, illustrated, maps, indexes, bibliographic references.
ISBN 1581820046
LC Subjects:
Cookery, American -- Southern Style
Cookery -- Appalachian Region, Southern
Cookery -- Appalachian Region, Southern -- History
Appalachian Region, Southern -- Social life and customs
Dabney combines traditional recipes from pre-World War II Southern Appalachia with some history of the foodways and cultural contexts in which they were cooked and practiced. The book has been criticized for containing factual and continuity errors. Some readers say the recipes are difficult to follow. When using this book for research, be sure as always to cross-check facts with several different sources. Look inside the book at Amazon.com.