Almost immediately, the Civil War transformed the way Southerners ate, devastating fields and food transportation networks. The war also spurred Southerners to canonize prewar cooking styles, resulting in cuisine that retained nineteenth-century techniques in a way other American cuisines did not. This fascinating book presents a variety of Civil War-era recipes from the South, accompanied by eye-opening essays describing this tumultuous period in the way people lived and ate. The cookbooks excerpted here teem with the kinds of recipes we expect to find when we go looking for Southern food.

Food in the Antebellum South and the Confederacy / Christopher Farrish -- Seeing the Civil War South through its recipes -- Mary Randolph, The Virginia Housewife, or, Methodical cooking -- Selections from the Confederate Periodicals, 1861-1865 -- Confederate Receipt Book: a compilation of over one hundred receipts, adapted to the times -- Maryland recipe manuscript, 1850s-1870 -- Maria Barringer, Dixie Cookery: or How I managed my table for twelve years, for southern housekeepers -- Annabella P. Hill, Mrs. Hill's new cook book: a practical system for private families, in town and country -- Abby Fisher, What Mrs. Fisher knows about old southern cooking, soups, pickles, preserves, etc.