Southern Food

In the Twentieth Century, the U.S. took stock of its regional specialties, resulting in landmark publications around the country. Many of the resulting books then and now tend to fixate on recipes alone, the tip of the culinary iceberg.  

During the 1980s, John Egerton meandered around the South looking for vestiges of vittles only found there at a time when regional cooking specialties across the US seemed to be fading fast.  With snippets of travel writing, interviews with artisans, anecdotes, and recipes, Southern Food demonstrated the culinary vitality and diversity of the South in one volume.   

Egerton’s work revealed the… show more.

Egerton was a prolific journalist and historian, and he was the godfather of the movement to study southern food.

He showed that from the beginning of southern history food was central to the region’s image, its personality, and its character. He visited over 200 cafes, plate lunch diners, boardinghouses, barbecue shacks, seafood places, and others, both plain and fancy.

The book has recipes for 150 time-tested dishes and a bibliography of 250 Southern cookbooks. Well-selected photographs of southern eating scenes illustrate the book.

Edgerton brought together fine-dining chefs, home cooks, waiters, restaurant owners, and customers to give readers a lively… show more.