View source for The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South

{{Infobox book
| name           = The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South

| author         = John T. Edge 
| publisher      = Penguin Press
| pub_date       = 2017
| pages          = 370
| isbn           = 9781594206559
| image          = [[File: ThePotlikkerPapers.jpg|200px|alt=Cover]]
}}
As the Director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, John T. Edge is an expert on Southern food, culture, and its history. In ''Potlikker Papers'', he writes a history of the modern South by looking at its people, its places, and their relationship to Southern food. Edge argues that the South and its foodways are inextricably linked and when looked at as a piece together one can trace the history of politics and the social history of the South. The purpose of this book, as he states in his Introduction is "to apprehend how Southerners have fed themselves and others gains us a necessary glimpse of remarkable lives, a kitchen-eye view of the revolutions and evolutions that have shaped the region." With the shaping of the region and the development of a regional "shared culinary language," comes new meaning in the history of the South and its place in the larger narrative of the nation and poses the possibility of finding new meaning out of food in the present (11).

He starts with the Civil Rights Movement and ends with the 2010s. He traces the history of the South and food in five sections: the Freedom Struggles (1950s-1970s), the Rise of the Folk (1970s-1980s), Gentrification (1980s-1990s), New Respect (1990s-2010s) and Future Tenses (the 2010s forward). By breaking it up in this chronological way, the Potlikker Papers has a cohesive story of change and continuity of the South. By beginning in the 1950s examining the change that the Civil Rights Movement brought to the South and the resistance to the change of the many white Southerners and ending with the changing demographics and cultural fluidity of the current South, the book shows how food can act as a lens through which we can examine race, class, place, and identity in the ever-changing South.

He begins his book in Freedom Struggles, by discussing the role of food in a segregated South and more specifically how food, restaurants, and home kitchens served as the stage for the Civil Rights Movement. This section of the book focuses on the role that African-American women, like Georgia Gilmore, played in fueling the Civil Rights Movement by opening her kitchen and serving food to those leaders, among them Martin Luther King Jr. The legacy of enslavement is palpable in the South, as Edge leads the reader to understand what role Southern food had in a segregated and hostile South and the deep connection that Southern cooking had in the African-American experience. The role of restaurants in the Civil Rights Movement is also discussed, as sit-ins at lunch counters across the South made national news and students put their bodies on the line, while the kitchens refused to serve them.

The book next looks at the hippie, commune movement and the proto-farm-to-table movement. Edge contrasts this with the rise of the fast food industry, the commoditization of Southern food by white entrepreneurs like Colonel Sanders. The book next discusses the embrace of the folkiness of the down-home Southern culture in the form of Jimmy Carter. With the election of Jimmy Carter to the White House, Edge says that “America had finally called the South to the table (144).” This is the weakest section of the book, as it is not as tight as the other sections of the book and his points do not come through as clearly as in other sections. Additionally, the historical narrative flounders a bit throughout the story but doesn’t make an impression in this section as well as it does in some of the others. 

Contrastly, the chapters on the gentrification of Southern food and culture are particularly interesting, as Edge traces the story of how these traditional Southern dishes have long been appropriated by white people for their own gain. By looking at the democratization of food and the way that culture flows across regions and states through our food, Edge connects the changing foodscape to the changing perceptions of the South. The South was seen as no longer a backwoods, backward culture, but as a rich place with good food, good people and interesting history. 

In the next section, New Respect, Edge introduces some of the change-makers in Southern cuisine, Sean Brock, Emeril Lagasse, and Sam Jones, who all influenced the way that Southern food became seen as artisanal and with it so did the South. In this section, he weaves in the complicated history of race, gentrification, and appropriation that is reflected not just in high-priced Southern restaurants, but in the changes happening across the South in neighborhoods across the region. 

He traces the food history of the modern South as a way to examine the resiliency of the African-American people, the contradictions of the modern South, and the cross-cultural sharing of foods and traditions that is a part of the Southern experience today. He is quick to point out that the South is still struggling to come to terms with its complicated history with race and appropriation of the foodways of Native Americans and enslaved Africans whose legacy of cooking has undeniably influenced Southern cuisine of today.

He ends the book, in Future Tenses, by speaking about the current state of the South, as he addresses some of the political reckonings that have happened and needs to happen across the region. With the fall of a white culinary institution like Paula Deen comes the rise of a new age of African-American cooks and culinary historians, like Michael Twitty who are reclaiming the history of Southern cooks and the plantation era South. Edge sees a need to reframe the history of the South as a place that has always been full of diversity of thought and people. It is not the starchy white plantation era region that so often dominated the historical and pop cultural narrative, but was always populated by enslaved people making their own cultures and food, which can now be tasted in the most expensive restaurants in the region. The appropriation and sharing of this food in the region seem to be used a way to discuss larger historical contexts around race relations in the South and the history of appropriation and commoditization of black culture by white people. Edge does argue that the South is increasingly more diverse with the increased numbers of immigrants, who are bringing with them their own foods and cultures. But is still plagued by its racist past and complicated future.

He talks about his teenage son, who is growing up in a different South. A South that is for all people, not just for the white Confederates. In Edge’s mind, the South of today is growing and changing for the good, but cannot be separated from its complicated history with race and prejudice. The fusion of cultures, which is seen throughout restaurants throughout the South points to a new form of Southern, where anyone can be Southern. The South is still deciding who it wants to be, who is welcome and what a true Southerner looks like, but through the sharing of food at a table, John Edge seems to think that we are closer to that goal than ever before. 

As a book about food and culture and a people’s history, ''Potlikker Papers'' does a good job of weaving in narratives and broad themes of Southern history, while connecting it to today’s current climate, however, it is not a scholarly look at Southern history, nor does it pretend to be one. While the author does a good enough job of addressing the historical framework, it is by no means expansive or in depth, but instead looks at all the ways that food has influenced the South and how this region has evolved and changed along with its food. Where it flounders in some places, it soars in others. It records a history of food evolution in the South and its various intersections of race, class, identity, and immigration as it relates to the history of the South and the current issues the region faces today. 
Category:Twentieth Century United States]]
[[Category:Wikify]]
[[Category:Book Summaries]]
[[Category:John T. Edge]]