Chapter 30 Exercises: Foodways, Craft, and Material Culture

Exercise 1: The Three Roots — Tracing Food Origins

Select three traditional Appalachian foods from the list below and research their cultural origins:

  • Cornbread
  • Poke sallet
  • Leather britches (dried green beans)
  • Country ham
  • Ramps
  • Shuck beans
  • Stack cake
  • Chow-chow (pickled relish)
  • Hominy/grits
  • Black-eyed peas
  • Soup beans (pinto beans)
  • Apple butter

a) For each food, identify which of the "three roots" (Indigenous, African, European) contributed most to the dish or technique. Note that many foods reflect contributions from multiple traditions.

b) Were there any foods on the list whose origins surprised you? Which ones, and why?

c) Many of these foods are now considered "generically Appalachian" without recognition of their specific cultural origins. Write a paragraph about what is lost when the multicultural roots of a food tradition are forgotten or erased.

Exercise 2: Primary Source Analysis — Foxfire Excerpts

Read the following excerpt from The Foxfire Book (1972), describing the hog-killing process as told by an elder to student interviewers:

"We always killed our hogs on the first real cold spell — had to be below freezing or the meat wouldn't keep. The whole family turned out for it, and neighbors too. It was hard work — killing and scraping and cutting — but it was a social time too. The women rendered the lard and made sausage and liver mush, and the men done the heavy cutting. We used everything but the squeal. Brains, liver, heart, feet, ears, jowls, tenderloin, backbones and ribs, hams and shoulders. What we couldn't eat right away got salted down and hung in the smokehouse. A good-sized hog could carry a family through the winter."

a) What does this passage tell us about the relationship between food production and community in mountain life? Identify at least three social functions of hog-killing day beyond food production.

b) The phrase "we used everything but the squeal" appears frequently in descriptions of mountain food practices. What does this principle of total utilization tell us about the economic circumstances and values of the community?

c) Hog-killing required specific weather conditions ("had to be below freezing"). How did the relationship between food preservation and climate shape the seasonal rhythms of mountain life? What happened when cold weather arrived late or not at all?

d) The student interviewers who recorded this account were teenagers interviewing elderly community members. What challenges might they have faced in conducting this interview? What advantages did they have over outside researchers?

Exercise 3: Quilt Pattern Analysis

Research two of the following traditional quilt patterns:

  • Double Wedding Ring
  • Log Cabin
  • Bear's Paw
  • Drunkard's Path
  • Star of Bethlehem
  • Grandmother's Flower Garden
  • Nine Patch
  • Flying Geese

a) Describe the visual structure of each pattern. What shapes and arrangements define it?

b) What is the origin or meaning of the pattern's name? Does the name tell you anything about the culture that created it?

c) How does each pattern manage the use of fabric scraps? (Many quilt patterns were designed specifically to make efficient use of small, irregular pieces of leftover fabric.) What does this tell you about the economics of quilt-making?

d) If possible, find images of historical Appalachian quilts using these patterns and compare them to contemporary quilts using the same patterns. What has changed? What has remained the same?

Exercise 4: The Foxfire Approach — Designing Your Own Project

The Foxfire project demonstrated that student-led cultural preservation can be both educationally effective and culturally valuable. Design a Foxfire-style project for your own community:

a) What traditional knowledge or cultural practices in your community are at risk of being lost? (Consider: food traditions, craft skills, agricultural practices, local history, music, language, religious practices, trade skills.)

b) Identify three to five people in your community who hold this knowledge. How would you approach them for interviews? What questions would you ask?

c) What format would your project take? (A magazine? A website? A podcast? A video series? A social media project?) Explain your choice.

d) What academic skills would students develop through this project? (Consider: writing, interviewing, research, photography, editing, project management, public speaking.)

e) What ethical considerations would you need to address? (Consider: informed consent, the right of interview subjects to control how their knowledge is shared, the risk of trivializing or commodifying cultural practices.)

Exercise 5: Craft as Commodity — Analyzing the Market

Visit the website of one of the following organizations (or a similar craft-marketing organization):

  • Southern Highland Craft Guild (southernhighlandguild.org)
  • Berea College crafts (berea.edu)
  • Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual (Cherokee, NC)
  • Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center

a) What types of craft objects are being sold? What price range do they occupy?

b) How are the objects described? What language is used to market them? Do the descriptions emphasize tradition, authenticity, handmade quality, artistic merit, or some combination?

c) Who is the likely buyer for these objects? Based on the prices, the marketing language, and the distribution channels, what demographic is being targeted?

d) How visible are the individual makers in the marketing? Are the makers named, photographed, and described? Or are the objects presented as "Appalachian craft" without identifying the specific humans who made them?

e) Write a 300-word analysis of the tension between supporting mountain craft economically (which requires selling it on the market) and preserving its cultural integrity (which may be compromised by market pressures). Is this tension resolvable?

Exercise 6: Then and Now — Food Preservation

Then: Before refrigeration, Appalachian families preserved food through canning, drying, smoking, salt-curing, pickling, and fermentation. A well-stocked pantry might contain hundreds of jars of canned vegetables and fruits, strings of leather britches, a smokehouse full of country ham and bacon, and crocks of sauerkraut and pickles.

Now: Most American families preserve food primarily through refrigeration and freezing. Home canning, while experiencing a revival, is practiced by a small minority. Most preserved foods (pickles, jams, canned vegetables) are purchased commercially.

a) What has been gained and what has been lost in the transition from traditional preservation to refrigeration/freezing? Consider: nutritional quality, flavor, labor requirements, cultural knowledge, food security, environmental impact.

b) The COVID-19 pandemic (2020) triggered a resurgence of interest in home canning and food preservation, driven by concerns about food supply chain disruptions. What does this resurgence tell us about the relationship between food security anxiety and traditional food knowledge?

c) Interview someone (a family member, a friend, a community member) who practices home canning or other traditional food preservation. What motivates them? Is it economics, health, tradition, hobby, or some combination? Write a 300-word summary of the interview.

Exercise 7: Whose Story Is Missing?

Chapter 30 discusses the multicultural roots of Appalachian food but acknowledges that the African contributions have been systematically erased.

a) Research the specific food traditions that enslaved and free Black people contributed to Appalachian foodways. Identify at least three specific dishes, techniques, or ingredients with African roots that are now considered "generically Appalachian."

b) Why have these contributions been erased? What forces — historical, social, economic — have worked to make Appalachian food appear to be an exclusively white European tradition?

c) Research the work of scholars and food writers who are working to restore the African roots of Southern and Appalachian food. (Suggested starting points: Michael Twitty, The Cooking Gene; Jessica B. Harris, High on the Hog.) How are these writers changing the narrative?

d) Write a 500-word reflection on what it means to "erase" a group's contributions to a shared food culture. Who benefits from the erasure? Who is harmed? What would a more accurate and inclusive account of Appalachian food look like?

Exercise 8: Oral History Prompt — What Your Family Made

Interview a family member or community elder about the material culture of their life — the things they made, ate, preserved, and used. Suggested questions:

  • What did your family grow in the garden? What did you eat most of?
  • Did your family can, dry, pickle, or otherwise preserve food? What was the process like? Who did the work?
  • Did anyone in your family make quilts, baskets, furniture, pottery, or other handmade objects? What did they make, and why?
  • Were there foods or crafts in your family that are no longer made? What happened to those traditions?
  • Was there ever shame associated with homemade food or handmade objects? If so, has that changed?
  • If you could preserve one food or craft tradition from your family's past, what would it be?

Write a 500-word summary connecting the interview to the themes of Chapter 30.

Note: See Appendix F (Oral History Guide) for detailed guidance on conducting and recording oral history interviews, including informed consent protocols.

Exercise 9: Discussion Questions

Discuss the following in small groups or as a full class:

a) The chapter argues that Appalachian food traditions are a synthesis of Indigenous, African, and European contributions. Why is it important to name these specific roots rather than treating Appalachian food as a single, undifferentiated tradition? What is at stake in recognizing (or failing to recognize) the multicultural origins of a food culture?

b) The Foxfire project has been both celebrated (for preserving traditional knowledge) and complicated (by its founder's crimes). How should we think about the value of a cultural project when its creator is revealed to have caused serious harm? Does the answer change depending on the nature of the harm?

c) When ramps appear on fancy restaurant menus in New York for fourteen dollars a serving, is this cultural appreciation, cultural appropriation, or something else entirely? Where do you draw the line?

d) Mountain women who made quilts from fabric scraps were not thinking of themselves as "artists." They were making bedcovers. Is a quilt made for warmth the same thing as a quilt made for display? Does the maker's intention affect the object's status as art?

e) The craft revival movement preserved Appalachian crafts but also imposed outside aesthetic standards on them. Is this a fair trade? Can cultural preservation happen without some degree of outside influence? Should it?

Exercise 10: Community History Portfolio — Cultural Portrait (Material Culture and Foodways)

Complete Chapter 30's Checkpoint of your Community History Portfolio as described at the end of the chapter. Your submission should include:

  1. Documentation of food traditions associated with your selected county
  2. Identification of craft traditions and notable practitioners
  3. Analysis of commercialization's effects on local traditions
  4. Description of preservation efforts currently active in the county
  5. One primary source with a 200-word analysis

Due date: as specified by your instructor. This checkpoint will be incorporated into your final portfolio at the end of the semester.