The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook

This cookbook began as a conversation around a board room table. It gained steam when a group of impassioned southern (and southern adoptee) cooks gathered for a weekend of brainstorming and cooking. And it took shape over many months of recipe-testing, story-gathering, and collaboration. I loved having a hand in making it, and I frequently cook from it. My copy is dog-eared and stained, as befits a spiral-bound community cookbook. Some of my favorite recipes: Blair Hobbs’s Shout Hallelujah Potato Salad, Tom Sasser’s Carolina Coleslaw, and Miracle Drop Biscuits from Sheri Castle.

Published by the University of Georgia Press in 2010.

“It's as much Americana as cookbook, an effort to preserve a vanishing part of our culture. Either way, it's an instant classic.” —Time

“The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook is a tribute to standards of the Southern table as well as a showcase for the delicious handiwork of some notable contemporary chefs.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Each page herein delivers a strong sense of community; the contributions are from real people with real names; the collection is democratic, but with nary a sign of culinary chaos; and the food is just plain good. And here's the best part, as far as I'm concerned: Regardless of whether it looks back into the past or ahead into the future, this book looks ever Southward.” —Alton Brown, from the foreword

“So why are we excited about yet another Southern cookbook? By sourcing recipes from spiral-bound community cookbooks and then testing and adapting them for modern kitchens, this collection of recipes has the potential to become the standard reference on the topic. Add to that the research power of the Southern Foodways Alliance and its director John T. Edge, and this book could be unstoppable.” —Eater.com

“Includes of plenty of genuinely new and genuinely Southern food to prove that it's still a living, breathing cuisine.” —Nashville Scene

“The folks at the S.F.A., which works to preserve the region's foodways, called on their friends-chefs, historians, civil rights activists and ham curers, to name a few-to help assemble a modern community cookbook. And what friends they have. . . . The only thing that could make this book more Southern would be a complimentary bottle of bourbon.” —Christina Muhlke, The New York Times

“An excellent community cookbook feels like a cherished hand-me-down. It's food history, generally reflecting a specific ethnic group or region. That's what you'll discover in The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook. Like something a proud parent places in your hands-a treasure, saying, 'This is for you, my best recipes. The ones I love the most. You'll take good care of them.' A collaborative project, the book took three years to produce, with recipes culled from Southern Foodways Alliance members. That's the secret to quality. Choose a great community of food people and food lovers, and you get great recipes.” —Miriam Rubin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette