Rebecca Sharpless

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

Baking defines the south--but why? How did cornbread and biscuits come to represent a large chunk of the country and become what we know of as the ultimate in carbohydrate-graced comfort foods? Author Rebecca Sharpless explores the vast, complicated history of baking in the American southeast beginning with Native American tribes (who did indeed bake a lot by making bread using things such as acorn flour), to the arrival of early European explorers, to the slave trade and the resultant innovations and influences of the enslaved upon the slavers, to Latin influences largely in Florida and Texas, up to the modern day where the diversity of the world fuses with southern classics.

I found the book fascinating and utterly approachable, an academic read that any baking and history buff could dig into and enjoy. I see this as a strong companion book to Michael W. Twitty's The Cooking Gene, which touched on his personal exploration of black and Jewish influences on southern cuisine. Sharpless's book is broader in scope and incredibly inclusive of other influences, and talks not just about ingredients and farming, but major advances in technology from mechanical hand beaters to baking powder to the expansion of powerhouses like Krispy Kreme.

Though the scope is broad, it still feels intimate. The author beings in many black voices whose experiences in slavery and afterward were recorded by WPA projects in the 1930s. The love--and sometimes embarrassment--around cornbread is an interesting theme across the centuries, too. Wheat didn't grow well in the south, despite rigorous efforts during colonization. The major reliance was on corn, and how attitudes around that have evolved over time is intriguing and often sad, as poverty and racism often are involved.… (meer)