It’s hard to find a section of the country that takes its food as seriously as the South. Texans love their chili and barbecue, Bostonians cleave to their baked beans, and New Englanders wouldn’t be caught chilled without a bowl of creamy chowder. Yet there’s no season when Southerners don’t love to talk, cook, eat and write about food. For insight, pick up a copy of the charming “Cornbread Nation 3,” ($17.95, University of North Carolina Press). It is the third volume in a series compiled from the best of Southern food writing. Edited by Ronni Lundy, a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, this edition focuses on the foods of the mountain South. Lundy, born in Kentucky, is a daughter of the region. Within the book’s 260 pages you can learn how the Cherokee value corn and where the possum stands in the Southern food chain. Poetry, stories and essays breathe life and energy into Appalachia, the Arkansas Ozarks and Louisiana Bayous. There’s even an anthem that opens the book, singing the praises of johnny cake, spoonbread, fatback and green beans. This is a fine read and a great stocking stuffer.
– Ellen Sweets
