Mountains of Culinary History
Tastes and Traditions Meld to Create a Pleasing Palate
in Appalachia
By Patrick Evans-Hylton
In many ways, the cuisine of Appalachia defines the region
for the melting pot of cultures that it is. In other ways, it mirrors the
sometimes harsh, hardscrabble existence early settlers to this region
experienced. In other ways still, it reflects the warmth and strong sense of
family the folks feel.
The Appalachians are old, and the low, rambling string of mountains and hollers were inhabited by indigenous people for centuries before European settlers came to the New World. Not content with coastal living, these settlers—Portuguese, Scot-Irish, German and English among them—made their way inland some 300 years ago to seek independent living on what was then America’s first western frontier.
Protein came—and still does in many cases—from animals that are hunted. Deer, turkeys, squirrels and raccoons provided a diet complemented with native plants like corn, beans, pumpkins and squash. Hickory nuts, black walnuts, scuppernongs, persimmons and wild brambleberries also augment the pantry. Later, cultivated plants added to the bounty, as well.
Some of the dishes prepared from these foods can still be found in the region, including suppone, called a pone of corn bread now. Much like a fried polenta, the dish consists of a cooked mixture of corn meal, water, grease and salt.
Even some native foods are enjoying a gourmet renaissance now, such as in the case of ramps, which is a wild spring onion-leek type plant often fried with potatoes in bacon grease.
Cooking methods, too, influenced what was eaten and how; settlers were limited to cooking on hearths originally, and then pot-bellied stoves came onto the scene.
With American expansionism and the advent of railways, many places in the Appalachians weren’t as isolated as they first were; the opportunities to buy from mail-order catalogs became available, even if the luxury wasn’t always affordable or limited to special times like the holidays. Special treats, like oranges from Florida, were found in stockings or cut up with coconut and tossed with pecans and honey for ambrosia fruit salad to be served at the Christmas table.
Railroads brought immigrants, too, to work in coalmines dotting the region. With them came their foodways, married into the established Appalachia ones. Poles brought pierogies and crullers. Germans brought sauerkraut and sausages. There were also dishes introduced by Russians and Greeks and Italians.
And, although over the years the recipes changed and adapted to be prepared with available ingredients and to be more palatable to a larger audience, the influence was made and even today is unmistakable.
Because of the mountainous terrain, electricity didn’t reach many areas of the Appalachians until the 1940s and 50s, but the arrival struck a huge change in dining. With reliable refrigeration, dishes could be made in advance and kept—especially dishes with perishable items like mayonnaise.
What arose were elaborate social events like supper on the lawn at church and summer picnics for the whole community complete with chicken salad, cole slaw, deviled eggs and the like. The strong sense of family, felt when early settlers huddled in their cabin around an open hearth, was extended even more to a wider family—that in the same and neighboring communities.
With the advent of television networks devoted solely to food and cooking, the cuisine of Appalachia continues to expand, but evident still are the pride of local ingredients, sense of heritage in decades-old recipes, even if they are updated a bit, and desire to share a meal with a neighbor, regardless of what corner of the world they hail from.
Patrick Evans-Hylton is the food editor for Hampton Roads Magazine, a food educator and a food historian.
What to Eat When
Although a trend in restaurants today is to provide local, seasonal cuisine, eating what was caught or raised nearby according to the time of year was necessary until at least the mid-20th century in Appalachia. Hardwired in their eating habits, many folks here still eat this way.
Home cooks and chefs alike base meals on what is available and fresh. When visiting family or friends or just traveling through the region on your own or with your family, here are a few items you may encounter during different seasons of the year and how they may be prepared.
SPRING
Apples – cinnamon-apple slices for year-round use, applesauce for year-round use
Cabbage – sautéed with pork fat, sauerkraut
Collards – sautéed with pork fat
Beef – grilled steaks, fried minute steaks, ground steaks, stewed with vegetables
Chicken – baked, fried, stewed with dumplings
Cornmeal – cornbread, dredging freshwater fish, corn pones
Freshwater Fish – examples: mountain trout and catfish, fried
Pork – ham steaks, sausage patties, barbecued and pulled, whole picking, country ham, scrapple, souse loaf
Ramps – pan-fried with potatoes in pork fat
Sorghum Syrup – atop flapjacks, used in baking
Strawberries – out-of-hand, preserved for year-round use
Whole wheat flour – bleached and processed for biscuits and chiffon cakes, base for gravy
SUMMER
Apples – out-of-hand, cinnamon-apple slices for year-round use, applesauce for year-round use
Beets – pickled for year-round use
Beef – grilled steaks, fried minute steaks, ground steaks, stewed with vegetables
Blackberries – out-of-hand, preserved for year-round use
Blueberries – out-of-hand, preserved for year-round use
Boysenberries – out-of-hand, preserved for year-round use
Cantaloupe – out-of-hand, with cottage cheese in salad
Chicken – baked, fried, stewed with dumplings
Cornmeal – cornbread, dredging freshwater fish, corn pones
Corn – eaten on-the-cob, creamed
Cucumbers – with onions and vinegar in salad; pickled
Fresh water fish – examples: mountain trout and catfish, fried
Okra – cut then battered and fried
Raspberries – out-of-hand, preserved for year-round use
Pork – ham steaks, sausage patties, barbecued and pulled, whole picking, country ham, scrapple, souse loaf
Snapbeans – steamed, sautéed with pork fat
Squash – sliced and sautéed with pork fat
Watermelon – out-of-hand, pickled rind
Whole Wheat Flour – bleached and processed for biscuits and chiffon cakes, base for gravy
FALL
Apples – out-of-hand, cinnamon-apple slices for year-round
use, applesauce for year-round use
Apples, dried – stack cake
Beef – grilled steaks, fried minute steaks, ground steaks, stewed with vegetables
Chicken – baked, fried, stewed with dumplings
Cornmeal – cornbread, dredging freshwater fish, corn pones
Corn – eaten on-the-cob, creamed
Cucumbers – with onions and vinegar in salad; pickled
Freshwater Fish – examples: mountain trout and catfish, fried
Greens – sautéed with pork fat
Okra – cut then battered and fried
Pears – out-of-hand, baked in bread, preserved for year-round use
Pecans – out-of-hand, topping for flapjacks, pie
Pork – ham steaks, sausage patties, barbecued and pulled, whole picking, country ham, scrapple, souse loaf
Scuppernongs – out-of-hand, preserved for year-round use, made into wine
Sweet Potatoes – baked, hashed and fried, pies, mashed
Sorghum Syrup – atop flapjacks, used in baking
Squash – sliced and sautéed with pork fat
Whole Wheat Flour – bleached and processed for biscuits and chiffon cakes, base for gravy
WINTER
Apples – out-of-hand, cinnamon-apple slices for year-round
use, applesauce for year-round use
Apples, dried – stack cake
Beef – grilled steaks, fried minute steaks, ground steaks, stewed with vegetables
Cabbage – sautéed with pork fat, sauerkraut
Chicken – baked, fried, stewed with dumplings
Cornmeal – cornbread, dredging freshwater fish, corn pones
Greens – sautéed with pork fat
Pecans – out-of-hand, topping for flapjacks, pie
Pork – ham steaks, sausage patties, barbecued and pulled, whole picking, country ham, scrapple, souse loaf
Sorghum Syrup – atop flapjacks, used in baking
Sweet Potatoes – baked, hashed and fried, pies, mashed
Whole Wheat Flour – bleached and processed for biscuits and chiffon cakes, base for gravy
– PEH