'At long last, we have a Florida cookbook that is really good! Jane Nickerson's Florida Cookbook is the work of a good cook who can write, a rare combination for some reason. Even better, Mrs. Nickerson is possessed of wit and culinary judgment--qualities often lacking in the works of so many other authors who have turned out books containing Florida recipes.

This Florida Book Awards Gold Medal-winner in the Cooking category celebrates the Sunshine State’s culinary heritage—from turtle soup to boiled peanuts. Though starting in one-story shacks in the piney woods of the Panhandle, Cracker cooking in Florida has evolved with our tastes and times and is now just as home in high-rise apartments along the glistening waterways. When supplies were limited and the workday arduous, black coffee with leftover cornbread might serve as breakfast. Today’s bounty and life’s relative ease bring mornings with lattes and biscotti, biscuits and sausage gravy. What’s on the plate has changed, but our heritage infuses who we are. As we follow the path laid out by gastronomic pioneers, this culinary quest, guided by sixth-generation Cracker Joy Sheffield Harris, will whet your appetite with recipes and sumptuous reflections. Pull up a chair and dig in.

This lively, handsomely illustrated, first-of-its-kind book celebrates the food of the American South in all its glorious variety—yesterday, today, at home, on the road, in history. It brings us the story of Southern cooking; a guide for more than 200 restaurants in eleven Southern states; a compilation of more than 150 time-honored Southern foods; a wonderfully useful annotated bibliography of more than 250 Southern cookbooks; and a collection of more than 200 opinionated, funny, nostalgic, or mouth-watering short selections (from George Washington Carver on sweet potatoes to Flannery O’Connor on collard greens). Here, in sum, is the flavor and feel of what it has meant for Southerners, over the generations, to gather at the table—in a book that’s for reading, for cooking, for eating (in or out), for referring to, for browsing in, and, above all, for enjoying.

“Tells the tales of some of Florida’s most famous desserts, from Key lime pie to citrus candy to the famous feud cake at Captain Anderson’s Restaurant.” —Panama City News Herald Sweets and the Sunshine State are a match made in heaven. Centuries ago, native Floridians used honey to sweeten dishes, as well as prickly pears and other wild fruits and berries. Spanish explorers introduced citrus to the area, leading to a major industry. Florida pioneers planted sugar cane and sweet potatoes as basic crops. Cane grinding, taffy pulls and homemade ice cream socials were once beloved community events across the state. The state pie of Florida, the Key lime pie, has been an addition to family affairs and restaurant menus since its inception in the late 1800s. From strawberry festivals to Florida flan, author Joy Sheffield Harris uncovers the state’s unique sweets with a taste of sunshine.

Florida cuisine: twelve thousand years in the making, discover the the state's unusual and distinctive food influences and dishes. From the very first prickly pears harvested by Paleo-Indians more than twelve thousand years ago to the Seminole tribe's staple dish of sofkee, Florida's culinary history is as diverse as its geography. Influences as diverse as French, Creole, Spanish, Cuban, Greek, Mexican, Caribbean, and more season Florida's eclectic flavors. Learn how Florida orange juice changed the look of the American breakfast table and discover the state's festival-worthy swamp cabbage. Through syllabubs, perloos, frog legs and Tupelo honey, author Joy Sheffield Harris serves up a delectable helping of five hundred years of Florida cuisine--all with a side of key lime pie, of course.

Food blogs are everywhere today but for generations, information and opinions about food were found in the food sections of newspapers in communities large and small. Until the early 1970s, these sections were housed in the women’s pages of newspapers—where women could hold an authoritative voice. The food editors—often a mix of trained journalist and home economist—reported on everything from nutrition news to features on the new chef in town. They wrote recipes and solicited ideas from readers. The sections reflected the trends of the time and the cooks of the community. The editors were local celebrities, judging cooking contests and getting calls at home about how to prepare a Thanksgiving turkey. They were consumer advocates and reporters for food safety and nutrition. They helped make James Beard and Julia Child household names as the editors wrote about their television appearances and reviewed their cookbooks. These food editors laid the foundation for the food community that Nora Ephron described in her classic 1968 essay, “The Food Establishment,” and eventually led to the food communities of today. Included in the chapters are profiles of such food editors as Jane Nickerson, Jeanne Voltz, and Ruth Ellen Church, who were unheralded pioneers in the field, as well as Cecily Brownstone, Poppy Cannon, and Clementine Paddleford, who are well known today; an analysis of their work demonstrates changes in the country’s culinary history. The book concludes with a look at how the women’s pages folded at the same time that home economics saw its field transformed and with thoughts about the foundation that these women laid for the food journalism of today.