November 15, 2011

A description of how hogs were slaughtered and the meat preserved in the 19th century American South. An excerpt from An Irresistible History of Southern Food.

November 11, 2011

In the economic uncertainty immediately following the Civil War, some newly freed slaves remained on the plantations of their former owners, working the land as tenant farmers for a share of the crop. They were joined by a new underclass of desperately poor whites, some of who had been marginally poor farmers who were forced Continue reading →

August 17, 2011

The history and role of moonshine in Southern food culture. Excerpted from An Irresistible History of Southern Food by Rick McDaniel (History Press, 2011).

June 23, 2011

An excerpt from An Irresistible History of Southern Food. Chicken Bog Bog is a casserole or thick stew served in the Lowcountry. If you want to attract a politician in North Carolina, all you have to do is start cooking a pig and at least three people running for office will magically appear and start Continue reading →

June 3, 2011

Here are the dates for some upcoming events for food historian and author Rick McDaniel: Sat 9 July 3 pm, Blue Ridge Books, 152 East Main St., Waynesville, NC Sat 23 July 12 Noon,Fiction Addiction Greenville, SC (Offsite Author lunch, advanced reservations required, click here for details and to register) Sat 30 July 1 pm,Gaston Continue reading →

May 8, 2011

An excerpt from An Irresistible History of Southern Food by Rick McDaniel. Ask any Southerner to picture in their mind a lazy summer day, and chances are that vision will include a porch, a rocking chair and a glass of iced tea. So how did a drink made from a plant that grows on the Continue reading →

April 29, 2011

An excerpt from An Irresistible History of Southern Food by Rick McDaniel. Any Southerner will tell you that the miracle of the loaves and fishes was the only churchsupper in history that didn’t include fried chicken. For those of us who grew up in the post–World War II South, chicken was a pretty regularpart of Continue reading →

April 22, 2011

Barbecue is one of the South’s most beloved foods and has long played an important role in the foodways of the region.

As much as we Southerners love our country ham, tenderloin biscuits and smothered pork chops, we will run over them all to get to a plate of barbecue. It is a subject that is guaranteed to get two people from different parts of the South into a spirited discussion ending in either a lifelong friendship or a fistfight.

January 15, 2011

Collard greens have been a part of Southern foodways and folklore for centuries; collards were among the first crops brought to the South by the English. Native Americans called collards “Quelites” and adapted them to their agriculture, and enslaved Africans brought their tradition of simmering them slowly over low heat until the collards are tender Continue reading →

August 5, 2009

“Thank God, who made the garden grow, Who took upon himself to know That we loved vegetables so. I served his plan with rake and hoe, And mother, boiling, baking, slow To her favorite tune of Old Black Joe, Predestined many an age ago. Pearly corn still on the cob, My teeth are aching for Continue reading →

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