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Anyone for a little Sauerkraut Jell-o? Pheasant Pie? Bourbon Dumplings? Green Tomato Chow-Chow?
The Idaho Humanities Council announces publication of Dishrag Soup & Poverty Cake: An Idaho Potluck of Essays on Food, a collection of essays and recipes by 43 contributors from Hayden to Pocatello about something we all have in common—great stories about food—and just in time for the holidays.
“It’s a cookbook you can take to bed with you,” says IHC Executive Director Rick Ardinger. “Though it has some great recipes, I suspect it will be on more nightstands than kitchen counters for a while. It’s a real gumbo of stories about the secret ingredients of community, friendship, family, and memory.”
The book features an eclectic mix of poignant and humorous essays about food making, food gathering, and eating. Idaho politico Bethine Church remembers trading recipes on the campaign trail; Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey writes about essential cookies for river rafting; Constitution scholar David Adler writes of presidential war powers and blueberry pancakes; Driggs bookstore owner Jeanne Anderson remembers winning a chili cook-off; Lewiston writer Margo Aragon recalls Nez Perce root-gathering traditions; U.S. Forest Service lookout John Thomsen writes of the joy of cooking at 7,500 feet—and much more. The title of the book comes from two essays about cooking during hard times.
The idea for the book came from the IHC’s 2006-2007 six-city tour of a Smithsonian Institution exhibit on the subject of food and culture, called Key Ingredients: America by Food, which has been or will be displayed in libraries, arts centers, and museums in Hayden, Hailey, Buhl, Cottonwood, Winchester, and Driggs. The exhibit will visit the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude’s Monastery in Cottonwood until December 2, at the Museum of Winchester History from December 9 – January 20, 2007, and at the Teton Valley Museum in Driggs from January 27 – March 10, 2007.
The Idaho Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization, serving as the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Council’s mission is to “connect people with ideas” by offering grants to organizations large and small for special humanities projects, and by sponsoring its own projects and programs to inspire greater public awareness, appreciation, and understanding of literature, history, anthropology, comparative religion, philosophy, law, and other humanities disciplines.
Dishrag Soup & Poverty Cake: An Idaho Potluck of Essays on Food (170 pages; ISBN # 0-9788816-0-5) is available for $15 (plus 6% sales tax and $3 shipping and handling) by:
