Visitors to the Pennsylvania Dutch country in Pennsylvania are usually delighted with the unique food tradition that survives there among the hills and small, well-tended farms. Ultimately based on the rich cookery of the peasants and small townspeople of the Rhineland and Switzerland, "Dutch" cookery has expanded into the new foodstuffs and materials that America has to offer, and it is one of the gastronomic treats of the country. Dishes such as apple soup, baked bananas, Dutch liver dumplings, spaetzle and braten, walnut shad, and oyster peppers are enjoyed by almost everyone. One of the difficulties about Dutch cookery, however, is that is always has been a home cooking style within a closely knit community, and it does not go by cookbooks. Until this book appeared, the best that one could do was to try to cadge an occasional recipe from a Dutch acquaintance or a local inn. Mr. George Frederick, one-time president of the Gourmet Society of New York, was in an unmatched position to record the delights of Dutch cookery. Himself a native Pennsylvania Dutchman, with access to countless kitchens and family cooking secrets, he was also a gourmet of international stature. He has gathered together 358 recipes that show the Dutch tradition at its strongest, all dishes with the unique savor that distinguishes them from their occasional counterparts in other cooking systems. His book is so good that it in turn has been taken over by many Pennsylvania resorts as the official cookbook. To list only a few of the mouthwatering recipes that Mr. Frederick gives in clear, accurate recipes that you can prepare: Dutch spiced cucumbers, raspberry sago soup, pretzel soup, squab with dumplings Nazareth, shrimp wiggle, Dutch beer eel, sherry sauerkraut, cheese custard, currant cakes, and many fine dumplings, pancakes, and soups . All types of food are covered.

An adaptation of the famous poem about a Christmas Eve visitor, set in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. Includes a pie recipe and information about Belsnickel and the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.

A fun display of Halloween folk art. Combining intricate artwork with short poems, this collection captures Halloween themes with poems of spiders, bats, and pumpkins. Each original entry is displayed in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect with an English translation. The artwork, a traditional style of scissor cutting, is cut from black paper, overlaying an orange background. A brief introduction reveals how this group came to celebrate October 31, and an instructional page includes a pattern for readers to make their own Halloween paper cutting.

Knowledge of folk custom and folk belief can help to explain ways of thought and behavior in modern America. American Folklife, a unique collection of essays dedicated to the presentation of American tradition, broadens our understanding of the regional differences and ethnic folkways that color American life. Folklife research examines the entire context of everyday life in past and present. It includes every aspect of traditional life, from regional architecture through the full range of material culture into spiritual culture, folk religion, witchcraft, and other forms of folk belief. This collection is especially useful in its application to American society, where countless influences from European, American Indian, and African cultural backgrounds merge. American Folklife relates folklife research to history, anthropology, cultural geography, architectural history, ethnographic film, folk technology, folk belief, and ethnic tensions in American society. It documents the folk-cultural background that is the root of our society.

When visitors travel to Pennsylvania Dutch Country, they are encouraged to consume the local culture by way of "regional specialties" such as cream-filled whoopie pies and deep-fried fritters of every variety. Yet many of the dishes and confections visitors have come to expect from the region did not emerge from Pennsylvania Dutch culture but from expectations fabricated by local-color novels or the tourist industry. At the same time, other less celebrated (and rather more delicious) dishes, such as sauerkraut and stuffed pork stomach, have been enjoyed in Pennsylvania Dutch homes across various localities and economic strata for decades. Celebrated food historian and cookbook writer William Woys Weaver delves deeply into the history of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine to sort fact from fiction in the foodlore of this culture. Through interviews with contemporary Pennsylvania Dutch cooks and extensive research into cookbooks and archives, As American as Shoofly Pie offers a comprehensive and counterintuitive cultural history of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, its roots and regional characteristics, its communities and class divisions, and, above all, its evolution into a uniquely American style of cookery. Weaver traces the origins of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine as far back as the first German settlements in America and follows them forward as New Dutch Cuisine continues to evolve and respond to contemporary food concerns. His detailed and affectionate chapters present a rich and diverse portrait of a living culinary practice—widely varied among different religious sects and localized communities, rich and poor, rural and urban—that complicates common notions of authenticity. Because there's no better way to understand food culture than to practice it, As American as Shoofly Pie's cultural history is accompanied by dozens of recipes, drawn from exacting research, kitchen-tested, and adapted to modern cooking conventions. From soup to Schnitz, these dishes lay the table with a multitude of regional tastes and stories. Hockt eich hie mit uns, un esst eich satt—Sit down with us and eat yourselves full!

Here is a book for anyone tired of speaking flat, colorless, homogenized English. Pennsylvania Dutchman Gary Gates provides a glossary, read-aloud section, songs, recipes, and more in this delightful, inwaluble introduction to Dutch-ified English. Learn the meaning of "rutch" and "spritz," what a "clod" and a "crotch" are, how to pronounce and make "Cussin Rachel's Snitz und Knepp," and what has happened to food when it's all. As you read this book you will not only learn how to speak better, but when an American Dutchman becomes president you will understand him when he addresses the nation in Dutch-ified English.