Puttin' By

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about winter foods.  On New Year’s we ate hog jowl and black-eyed peas.  Then a bunch of readers mentioned you always eat cabbage too, so last week we talked about that delicious vegetable.  Well those articles got me to thinking about all the work mountain folks usually do in the summertime to prepare for the cold winter months when nothing much is growing.  Really, I have realized anew that “an idle soul shall suffer hunger” (Proverbs 19:15b).

As I write this article, I have a meatloaf ready to go in the oven for tonight’s supper, the potatoes are peeled and I’ll open a Mason jar of green beans to round out a fine wintertime meal.  Of course, all of that is food you might’ve found on my grandmother’s table – as far back as her earliest years of marriage.  We’ve discussed before that she taught me to cook and I find more and more that I cook just like her!  But yesterday we had breaded chicken nuggets – a decidedly modern and convenient food – and earlier in the week there was a pasta dish on my table.  Of course pasta isn’t a traditional Appalachian food as we’re partial to dumplings. 

As I researched and wrote the Cabbage article last week, I couldn’t help but think about what meals would’ve looked like on the mountain a hundred years ago.  In one way, winter was good because meat could be kept and cured.  However, the veggies were always the problem.  I’m going to make a list below of the foods Appalachians-of-old would’ve been eating this time of year.   I mentioned several of the vegetable choices in the last couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to y’uns leaving a comment to tell me what I’ve missed.

Meat:  Any Game
              Smoked Beef
              Cured Pork
Chicken

Break:  Cornbread

Vegetables:  Potatoes
              Cabbage
              Green Beans
              Carrots
              Dried Beans (I’m including Black-Eyed Peas in this category_
              Sweet Potatoes
              Pumpkins
               Turnips
              Onions
             

As I made this list (with my Mama’s help) I first thought that it’s a pretty limited list.  Then, as I looked it over again, I had to admit it covers probably three-fourths of the food I eat, even today.   The big difference is the planning and preparation – every food on that list requires hours of back breaking work.  Whether stalking prey or fattening a hog, putting meat on the table takes some considerable effort.  Corn is particularly labor-intensive as it has to be planted, hoed, picked, shelled and then ground for bread.  The vegetables seem a little easier, but you’ve gotta’ start planning for winter in about March or April.

Does this give you a renewed appreciation for your ancestors?  It sure does me!