Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

A short tour of the Ozarks food history


gfron1

Recommended Posts

My mother's family is from that part of the country.  She was born near Mountain Home, in northern Arkansas, one of her sisters lived in Little Rock all her life. Another in West Plains (southern Mo.) We spent lots of time there in my childhood. In the last couple of weeks I have traced her family back to England in the late 1500's and early 1600's. They came to the Ozarks region largely from Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.  

Edited by Norm Matthews (log)
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

This book falls in the category of homogenization that I've mentioned either here or my restaurant thread. Right around 1920 two companies came into the Ozarks gathering recipes from communities, adding them to a base set and publishing the books to sell back to churches and groups who would then sell them in their communities. The difference between recipes before and after is night and day, and is why I've focused all of my efforts on pre-1920 and moreso the 1800s. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lexington, MO is pretty far North of the Ozarks. It's on the Missouri river about 100 miles East of KC.

 

There was a pretty big Civil War battle fought there. AKA Battle of the Hemp bails as several of them waiting to be loaded onto boats caught fire during the battle. 

  • Like 1

That's the thing about opposum inerds, they's just as tasty the next day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

This book falls in the category of homogenization that I've mentioned either here or my restaurant thread. Right around 1920 two companies came into the Ozarks gathering recipes from communities, adding them to a base set and publishing the books to sell back to churches and groups who would then sell them in their communities. The difference between recipes before and after is night and day, and is why I've focused all of my efforts on pre-1920 and moreso the 1800s. 

 If it makes any difference, 1919 was the second print run, the first was 1917—I'm sure the recipes didn't all come into existence in 1917.

The recipes are all purported to be from individuals, in Missouri, and favorites of the students.

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
  • Like 2

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@gfron1

Are a you familiar with the Cattail Moonshine book by Tammi Hartung?

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/22/2019 at 5:21 PM, gfron1 said:
On 1/21/2019 at 11:41 AM, ElsieD said:

Wow.  That is a LOT of fruitcake.  A place where I used to work had documents going back to the late 1800s.  The penmanship was amazing, the same as what you posted.  I used to look at these documents and wonder what the original writers might have thought if they knew that 100 years later someone would be looking at them.

Actually the large volume is because they would make a bunch of fruitcakes that were intended to get them through winter.

Another factor to consider with older recipes:  Before the industrial revolution and the birth of the modern food industry, many ingredients (from eggs to apples to animals) were significantly smaller on average than we're used to today. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, captaincarl said:

Another factor to consider with older recipes:  Before the industrial revolution and the birth of the modern food industry, many ingredients (from eggs to apples to animals) were significantly smaller on average than we're used to today. 

 

So were people.

 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 5
  • Sad 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, captaincarl said:

Another factor to consider with older recipes:  Before the industrial revolution and the birth of the modern food industry, many ingredients (from eggs to apples to animals) were significantly smaller on average than we're used to today. 

Fortunately for me this is addressed in Chicora's Help to the Housekeeper (mentioned above) which give me eggs to quarts, etc. I haven't looked at the conversion yet, but my guess is it would be subtle just based on eggs alone.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...