The Southern Plate: An Archival Exhibition on Food

“The Southern Plate: An Archival Exhibition on Food” uses materials from our collections to examine a number of aspects of southern foodways from grits and greens to everything in between. From our large cookbook collection, including celebrity, community, and church cookbooks, you can see examples of 19th and 20th century handmade recipe books featuring family favorites, from fudge to blackberry wine.

We also look at the intersections of food and other aspects of society, from looking at rationing of food during wartime to black food cooperatives and land ownership to desegregating southern dining establishments. There are displays on blues songs about food as well as the role of food in various literature from southern writers.

Images in this gallery accompany an online exhibit available here.