Thanks for the lead! Just ordered Elias's book and will check it out. I'm planning a series of linked short stories here on Substack about a group of Southern women in the mid-1930s, working on the America Eats FWP program. I really enjoy digging into food history.
Sarah, thank you for this deeply researched post. I'm a fiction writer and include food and foodways in my novels (historical, contemporary). I wonder if you're familiar with the America Eats program that was part of the Federal Writers Project (which was part of the WPA) in the late 1930s. The emphasis in that program was entirely regional and produced some interesting ambiguities when it came to "American" food. The links in this summary page are all active: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_Eats For support on Substack, I've had good luck here: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Yes! That was a big part of the regional foodways revival in the 1930s. Although the emphasis of that project was more on community/festival foodways rather than what ordinary individual families were eating. Pat Willard wrote a great book on the project and when I can figure out how to tag her on here, I will because she is also on Substack.
And thank you SO. MUCH for the support link!!! I looked for ages and couldn't find one.
Thanks for the lead! Just ordered Elias's book and will check it out. I'm planning a series of linked short stories here on Substack about a group of Southern women in the mid-1930s, working on the America Eats FWP program. I really enjoy digging into food history.
Oooh! I can't wait to read them!
Sarah, thank you for this deeply researched post. I'm a fiction writer and include food and foodways in my novels (historical, contemporary). I wonder if you're familiar with the America Eats program that was part of the Federal Writers Project (which was part of the WPA) in the late 1930s. The emphasis in that program was entirely regional and produced some interesting ambiguities when it came to "American" food. The links in this summary page are all active: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_Eats For support on Substack, I've had good luck here: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Yes! That was a big part of the regional foodways revival in the 1930s. Although the emphasis of that project was more on community/festival foodways rather than what ordinary individual families were eating. Pat Willard wrote a great book on the project and when I can figure out how to tag her on here, I will because she is also on Substack.
And thank you SO. MUCH for the support link!!! I looked for ages and couldn't find one.
I have Willard's book (excellent). Can you give me a source for info re Lost Cause cookery? This is new to me and I'm interested.
Megan Elias mentions it in her book Food On The Page but does not go into great detail. I keep waiting for someone to write a book about it!