Recipes Exist in the Moment: Cookbooks and Culture in the Post-Civil War South
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University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2013 Recipes Exist In The Moment: Cookbooks And Culture In The Post-Civil War South Kelsielynn Ruff University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Ruff, Kelsielynn, "Recipes Exist In The Moment: Cookbooks And Culture In The Post-Civil War South" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 634. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/634 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “RECIPES EXIST IN THE MOMENT”: COOKBOOKS AND CULTURE IN THE POST-CIVIL WAR SOUTH A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History The University of Mississippi by Kelsielynn Ruff August 2013 Copyright Kelsielynn Ruff 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Cookbooks manifested Southern archetypes between the late 1860s and the early 2000s. From the late 1800s through 1945, cookbooks exemplified Jim Crow with racist language, stereotyped illustrations, and marginalization of black laborers. Almost at the same time, an ideological belief that glorified the South’s loss in the Civil War and romanticized the leaders and fallen soldiers as heroes, called the Lost Cause, appeared in cookbooks. Whites used reminiscence about antebellum society, memorialization of Civil War heroes, and coded language to support Lost Cause beliefs. As the twentieth century progressed, the racial tensions morphed, and the civil rights movement came to a head. Between the 1950s and the late 1960s- early 1970s, cookbooks reflected the cultural tensions of the time, harkening back to the earlier Jim Crow-style recipes and language. From the 1970s to the mid-1980s, due to a bolstering of white Southern pride caused by the death of segregation, the Lost Cause resurfaced with a resurgence of heirloom Lost Cause recipes. Southerners challenged domestic ideology and gender roles by the second half of the twentieth century, and Southern social, political, and religious figures attempted to reinforce women’s roles and preserve family values. Concurrently, the movement of the Religious Right in the 1980s of conservative evangelicals was spreading through the country. Cookbooks further reflected the push of reverting to family values by showcasing recipes handed down from mothers and grandmothers. Lastly, the enterprises of Southern Living magazine, Cracker Barrel, and Paula Deen’s stardom commercialized the concept of Southernness and exported it through the United States. ii DEDICATION I dedicate my thesis to my mother, who won her fight with cancer as I finished this project. Thank you, Momma, for all you have done for me to help me realize my dreams and succeed. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the following people for making this thesis and my Master’s degree possible: First, an incredibly massive thanks goes to my academic gurus and colleagues for their intellectual guidance. I created this work for every history teacher I have ever had, including Mr. Tom Coleman, Mr. Glenn Hallick, and the incredible history faculty at both Flagler College and the University of Mississippi. A special thanks to Dr. John Diviney and Dr. J. Michael Butler of Flagler College for teaching me that history was the career I wanted, for listening when I needed an ear, and for helping me through some of the hardest years of college. To Drs. Deirdre Cooper Owens and Jesse Cromwell, thank you for your advice regarding graduate school, career plans, and the “next step.” To Drs. Charles Reagan Wilson, Ted Ownby, and Darren E. Grem of the University of Mississippi, I must thank you for not only your advice as I strategized my career, but also for being amazing readers and critics, allowing me to present this finished product with pride. A special thanks also to Dr. Angela Jill Cooley for her help along the way with this project, and for volunteering to see it through to the end. Second, I must say thank you to those who have assisted in the creation of this paper through the contribution of research materials. This project, which started as an undergraduate seminar paper in 2010, has left a long trail of gratitude for cookbook contributions. First and foremost, I wish to say thank you to Katherine Owens (for cookbooks and endless Chicago-style citation help), Mary Lou Brusaw (for cookbooks and sewing lessons), Warren and Irene Hawkins (for cookbooks and amazing memories), and Marsha Ruff (for cookbooks, many of which were heirlooms, and life itself). Thank you also to the Public Library Systems of St. Johns and Marion Counties, Florida, for loaning your materials. I owe a great debt to Peggy Dyess and the Interlibrary Loan department of Flagler College for your tireless and personal attention, and for filling the nearly hundred loan requests, while I completed the founding stage of this thesis at Flagler. Secondly, while at the University of Mississippi, both developing this work as a seminar paper and thesis, I must thank the Archives & Special Collections staff for the dozens of pulled cookbooks, the Interlibrary Loan department for fetching me everything possible, and Judy Greenwood for, once learning of my project’s subject, donating her own personal cookbooks to the cause of research. A grateful thank you to Phila Rawlings Hach and her son Joe for answering several questions I had regarding her cookbooks mentioned in the fifth chapter. Part of this work also grew out of a seminar paper, which took me to Birmingham, Alabama and the headquarters of Southern Living magazine for research. To Susan Ray, Susan Payne Dobbs, and Jean Wickstrom Liles, I cannot thank you enough for your openness, time, books, hospitality, interviews, and my almost complete set of Southern Living© Annual Recipes cookbooks. To Rebecca Gordon and the rest of the Test Kitchen staff, thank you for having me at your table, welcoming me into your process, and listening to my humble opinions on your test recipes. I must also thank Sheila Scott, Karl and Pat Seitz, and my father, William Ruff, for housing me during my research ventures in the fall of 2011. iv My research took me to New Orleans, Louisiana on a short window of time in my final semester’s schedule, accidentally scheduled during the Mardi Gras season. Several people not only made it possible for me to travel and stay, but also made it a wonderfully productive trip. I would like to thank the Graduate School of the University of Mississippi for their financial assistance to go complete the research. Charlotte Jones, you wonderful Floridian, bless you for falling in love with and staying in one of the best cities, and for giving me a gracious, hospitable, and downright fun place to stay to do research. To Susan Tucker, Bea Calvert, and the staff of the Newcomb College Institute’s Nadine Vorhoff Library at Tulane University, thank you for your generosity and freedom in the utilization of your culinary collection. I would also like to thank The Historic New Orleans Collection and Bobby Ticknor for access to your wealth of material and your flexibility with me on the last day before your holiday began. I also received assistance from the staff of the New Orleans Public Library on my very short, but sweet, visit to New Orleans, for which I am grateful. My final and most sincere thanks must go to my family and friends who have supported me along the way. There are far too many people to list, and surely I would forget someone if I tried. The first group of this subset I must thank are those amazing souls who read any (or all) versions of this paper, from its days at Flagler to its size today. A special thank you to my dear friend Kristin for reading and editing every single page, including the footnotes and bibliography. I come from a large family with many, many branches, including several members who I am not related to by blood. Either way, to my “kin,” I know for a fact I could not have gotten to where I am without you all. To my dear friends scattered far and wide—from Albuquerque to Washington, D.C., Denver to Orlando, and everywhere in-between: I am so thankful for those of you who have been there for me through so many trials and tribulations. To those I met on my short two-year journey in Mississippi, especially the Jaquess family, I will carry each one of you Oxonian friends with me as I leave this beautiful space. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................................ vii INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: Cookbooks in the Jim Crow South ...........................................................................8 CHAPTER 2: Lost Cause Cookbooks ...........................................................................................37