Hog Meat and Hoecake - (Southern Foodways Alliance Studies in Culture, People, and P) by Sam Bowers Hilliard (Paperback)

About the Book

First published in 1972, it is one of the first scholarly examinations of the important role food played in the antebellum South's history, culture, and politics. Drawing from diaries, the census, the press, and farm records, it has become a landmark of food ways scholarship.

Book Synopsis

When historical geographer Sam B. Hilliard's book Hog Meat and Hoecake was published in 1972, it was ahead of its time. It was one of the first scholarly examinations of the important role food played in a region's history, culture, and politics, and it has since become a landmark of foodways scholarship.

In the book Hilliard examines the food supply, dietary habits, and agricultural choices of the antebellum American South, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. He explores the major southern food sources at the time, the regional production of commodity crops, and the role of those products in the subsistence economy.

Far from being primarily a plantation system concentrating on cash crops such as cotton and tobacco, Hilliard demonstrates that the South produced huge amounts of foodstuffs for regional consumption. In fact, the South produced so abundantly that, except for wines and cordials, southern tables were not only stocked with the essentials but amply laden with veritable delicacies as well. (Though contrary to popular opinion, neither grits nor hominy ever came close to being universally used in the South prior to the Civil War.)

Hilliard's focus on food habits, culture, and consumption was revolutionary--as was his discovery that malnutrition was not a major cause of the South's defeat in the Civil War. His book established the methods and vocabulary for studying a region's cuisine in the context of its culture that foodways scholars still employ today. This reissue is an excellent and timely reminder of that.

Review Quotes

Hog Meat and Hoecake points to an important historical context . . . reminding us that not everyone has had equal access to the groaning board--the most notable example being the enslaved population, which was forced to hunt, forage and beg in order to augment minimal rations of pork and corn.--Jennifer Jensen Wallach "The Times Literary Supplement"

A significant addition to the literature on southern history. Hilliard says what he means in clear, simple prose. . . . Fills an honest need and should stand for some time as one of the most authoritative works on this particular subject.-- "Journal of Southern History"

A significant treatment of the geography of diet and food supply in the antebellum South. . . . A well-documented and uniquely conceived work. It deserves the attention of all scholars concerned with the history and culture of the South.-- "Geographical Review"

An interesting, well-written, and valuable reference.-- "Agricultural History"

The author handles his evidence--drawn from travel diaries, plantation records, the agricultural and commercial press, and the census--with skill and imagination, and his interpretations are sound. . . . A pleasure to read.-- "American Historical Review"

About the Author

SAM BOWERS HILLIARD was professor emeritus in geography and anthropology at Louisiana State University. He taught there from 1971 to 1993.