Appalachia on the Table

Erica Abrams Locklear, Professor of English and the Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of North Carolina Asheville, is a fifth-generation native of western North Carolina. She insightfully draws from this background in her scholarship on literary depictions of Appalachian culture. Appalachia on the Table continues in that vein and contributes significantly to not only understanding the food cultures of Appalachia but also to how representations of food in novels, memoirs, short stories, and poetry have been used to characterize the region. Her analyses of these works are nuanced and articulate, tying them to broader issues around how selected perceptions of mountain culture have enabled economic and political policies that have exploited the region: “Foods deemed inferior implies inferior people” (20).Locklear offers a different lens for reading familiar names in Appalachian literature and introduces some lesser-known ones. She also broadens the subject by adding cookbooks, restaurant menus, and popular media. She is well-aware of the limitations of literary analysis, recognizing the need to contextualize both the analyses and the subjects studied. Her observations draw from ethnographic, autoethnographic, and archival research, including interviews with authors.Locklear begins by describing her surprise that her grandmother's homemade recipe book included a variety of dishes beyond the “traditional” mountain food that she expected. The ensuing chapters explore how and why those expectations were created, albeit unconsciously. The chapters follow a historical trajectory. Chapter 1 investigates references to food in local color literature and travel writing from 1870 to 1920 and how the latter tended to carry an assumption of truthfulness. She applies Emily Satterwhite's observation that this literature functioned differently for different readers and needs to be contextualized in order to assess its impact. Chapter 2 discusses reformers in Southern Appalachia in the early twentieth century, pointing out that their narratives about Appalachia were not unified. Different groups had different purposes, motivations, methods, and relationships with mountain people, and some reformers displayed a much more nuanced understanding of the region than others. Chapter 3 examines how native writers from the 1910s to 1940s responded to government programs meant to improve nutrition and health among mountain people. Such programs were actually occurring throughout the country, so more contextualization of these would have been helpful.Chapter 4 applies Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital in order to understand how shame about food transferred and interacted with shame about cultural identity. The final chapter describes contemporary portrayals of Appalachian food, pointing out that celebration can still marginalize a food culture. Locklear concludes the book with a discussion of the recent shift in Appalachian food “from coarse to haute” (181). While that shift seems to be positive, the food culture runs the risk of being festishized, a trend that Locklear references Elizabeth Engelhardt in pointing out that it can lead to exclusionary practices (182).There are few weaknesses in this very thoroughly researched and well-thought-out book. Locklear clearly sets out her subject, establishing her focus on written works while including some popular culture products as well as ethnographic research. Some assertions about specific foods or authors could inspire more research, such as her suggestion that “molasses” refers to sorghum syrup rather than the thick and dark syrup from boiling down sugarcane. The strengths of the book, however, far outweigh any quibbles I might have about data or interpretations. It is well organized, readable, and skillful in the application of cultural theories.Appalachian food has rarely been taken seriously by scholars, the elite food world, or the general public. Even within Appalachian studies, most research has focused on food insecurity, nutrition, or the description of traditional methods of food production and preservation. While many popular publications still perpetuate the stereotypes of a homogenous food culture based on poverty with little culinary discernment or reflection, some writers and scholars are challenging those representations—for example, Elizabeth Engelhardt, Lora Smith, Ronni Lundy, the new Foxfire series, Emily Hilliard, myself, and others. Locklear contributes significantly to this scholarship, emphasizing the complexity and diversity of Appalachian food. Her study of how literary representations construct, perpetuate, and challenge stereotypes demonstrates the usefulness of such analysis and should be of interest to scholars, students, and general readers concerned with how any cultural products, not just food, interact with identity and power. The book definitely whetted my appetite to read—or reread—Appalachian literature, as well as to eat some of these dishes with more attention to the identities they might carry

Appalachia · Food studies · Picnic · Politics · Scholarship · Surprise · Tying · American History and Culture · Appalachian Studies and Mathematics · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies