From springhouse to smokehouse, from hearth to garden, Southern Appalachian foodways are celebrated afresh in this newly revised edition of The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery. First published in 1984—one of the wildly popular Foxfire books drawn from a wealth of material gathered by Foxfire students in Rabun Gap, Georgia—the volume combines hundreds of unpretentious, delectable recipes with the practical knowledge, wisdom, and riveting stories of those who have cooked this way for generations. A tremendous resource for all interested in the region's culinary culture, it is now reimagined with today's heightened interest in cultural-specific cooking and food-lovers culture in mind. This edition features new documentation, photographs, and recipes drawn from Foxfire's extensive archives while maintaining all the reminiscences and sharp humor of the amazing people originally interviewed. Appalachian-born chef Sean Brock contributes a passionate foreword to this edition, witnessing to the book's spellbinding influence on him and its continued relevance. T. J. Smith, editor of the revised edition, provides a fascinating perspective on the book's original creation and this revision. They invite you to join Foxfire for the first time or once again for a journey into the delicious world of wild foods, traditional favorites, and tastes found only in Southern Appalachia.

Traditional recipes for soups, salads, fish, poultry, game, pork, beef, sauces, vegetables, breads, desserts, and preserves, are accompanied by descriptions of old-time cooking techniques.

Recipes for soups, salads, fish, poultry, pork, beef, sauces, vegetables, breads, and desserts are accompanied by descriptions of old-time cooking techniques

“The 80 recipes are important, but really, this is a food-studies book written for those who feel some nostalgia for, or connection to, Appalachia.” —Lexington Herald-Leader Mark F. Sohn’s classic book, Mountain Country Cooking, was a James Beard Award nominee in 1997. In Appalachian Home Cooking, Sohn expands and improves upon his earlier work by using his extensive knowledge of cooking to uncover the romantic secrets of Appalachian food, both within and beyond the kitchen. Shedding new light on Appalachia’s food, history, and culture, Sohn offers over eighty classic recipes, as well as photographs, poetry, mail-order sources, information on Appalachian food festivals, a glossary of Appalachian and cooking terms, menus for holidays and seasons, and lists of the top Appalachian foods. Appalachian Home Cooking celebrates mountain food at its best. “When you read these recipes for chicken and dumplings, country ham, fried trout, crackling bread, shuck beans, cheese grits casseroles, bean patties, and sweet potato pie your mouth will begin to water whether or not you have a connection to Appalachia.” —Loyal Jones, author of Appalachian Values “Offers everything you ever wanted to know about culinary mysteries like shucky beans, pawpaws, cushaw squash, and how to season cast-iron cookware.” —Our State “Tells how mountain people have taken what they had to work with, from livestock to produce, and provides more than recipes, but the stories behind the preparing of the food . . . The reading is almost as much fun as the eating, with fewer calories.” —Modern Mountain Magazine

Part oral history and part rule book, The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Toys and Games is a joyous collection of memories of playing indoor and outdoor games; of making dolls, homemade board games, playhouses, and other toys--each with complete instructions and the flavor of southern Appalachia. Every toy and game has been tested by the Foxfire students and is devised to make or play yourself, without major expense, complicated parts, or electricity. Originally published in 1985, the book includes familiar games like marbles, hopscotch, and horseshoes, as well as more obscure entertainments such as stealing the pines, crows and cranes, and thimble. Here, too, are instructions for constructing playhouses, noisemakers, puzzles, and whimmy diddles. The book also provides information on special games traditionally played on Sundays and holidays. For those who are tired of worn-out batteries and electronic toys and for anyone curious about the playtimes of an earlier generation, The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Toys and Games is a welcome and entertaining guide.

The Gilded Age is renowned for a variety of reasons, including its culture of conspicuous consumption among the newly rich. In the domain of food, conspicuous consumption manifested itself in appetites for expensive dishes and lavish dinner parties. These received ample publicity at the time, resulting later on in well-developed historical depictions of upper-class eating habits. This book delves into the eating habits of people of lesser means. Concerning the African American community, the working class, the impoverished, immigrants, and others our historical representations have been relatively superficial. The author changes that by turning to the late nineteenth century’s infant science of nutrition for a look at eating and drinking through the lens of the earliest food consumption studies conducted in the United States. These were undertaken by scientists, mostly chemists, who left their laboratories to observe food consumption in kitchens, dining rooms, and various institutional settings. Their insistence on careful measurement resulted in a substantial body of detailed reports on the eating habits of ordinary people. This work sheds new light on what most Americans were cooking and eating during the Gilded Age.