April 15, 2011

An Irresistible History of Southern Food is the first book by Southern food historian, chef and author Rick McDaniel. The book examines how European, Native American and African influences, foods and cooking techniques combined to form the unique blend that is Southern cooking.

From the earliest interactions between Spanish explorers and Native Americans to the Farm to Table movement of the 21st century, An Irresistible History of Southern Food is a history lesson that will make your mouth water.

The 240 page hardback features more than 150 recipes for traditional Southern favorites from whole hog barbecue to jambalaya to brunswick stew, with an extensive chapter on elegant Southern desserts. The book features color photographs of many of the recipes as well as rare archival photos, many of them seen for the first time in print.

An Irresistible History of Southern Food is available at bookstores nationwide. For a hardback copy signed by the author, use the buy now button to order by credit card, debit card or PayPal.

November 5, 2008

Rick McDaniel is a food historian, chef and author who specializes in Southern food.

A working journalist for more than 30 years, he is a Senior Contributing Writer for the Asheville Citizen-Times and writes for several regional magazines. He also wrote a weekly syndicated column on Southern cooking for eight years.

McDaniel learned his love of Southern food from “four generations of “small women who were giants in the kitchen.” Coconut cakes made from scratch, church picnics and abundant Sunday dinners flavored his upbringing in a small town in North Carolina during the 1960s.

A member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, he is dedicated to preserving the region’s culinary heritage by collecting and preserving traditional recipes from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and teaching classes on classical southern foods and their preparation.  His Web site, chefrick.com, has been featured in The New York Times and voted one of the best Internet resources for American Cookery by the University of Oregon, the New York City Public Library System and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

McDaniel lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and son.