Eating Appalachia by Darrin Nordahl

My rating: 3 of 5 spoons

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Eating Appalachia is not really a cookbook, but more a collection of writings with a few simple recipes scattered throughout. It begins with an introduction on American Ingredients and cuisine before moving on to chapters covering key places in Appalachia:

• Albany, Ohio
• Richwood, West Virginia
• Prestonsburg, Kentucky
• Cairo, West Virginia
• Cherokee, North Carolina
• Colfax, North Carolina

The book ends with an epilogue, Toward a New American Cuisine. Each chapter includes information about the area and the produce found there. For instance, the chapter on Albany, Ohio includes information, history and recipes about the pawpaw, while the chapter on Colfax, NC is all about the persimmon.

If you’re interested in Appalachia and the food there, you should enjoy this book. If you’re looking for a cookbook packed with Appalachian recipes, this is probably not for you. There is only about 23 total recipes in this book, and most are fairly simple. Overall, however, I enjoyed the book and recommend it provisionally to others.

I received a copy of this book from Chicago Review Press through the Lisa Ekus Group. All thoughts and opinions are my own.