Fishing for Chickens: A Smokies Food Memoir

Fishing for Chickens is a memoir and cookbook that explores the culinary traditions of the Smokies, featuring recipes and anecdotes from three generations. It offers a unique perspective on Appalachian cooking and highlights the wisdom of wonderful cooks.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 277 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2022
Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Fishing for Chickens is a captivating blend of memoir and cookbook that offers a unique perspective on the Smokies region of southern Appalachia. Written by a native of Bryson City, North Carolina, the book provides a detailed description of the folkways of food in the Smokies over three generations, beginning in the early twentieth century. While fancy-dancy food magazines and self-ordained cuisine cognoscenti often rave about the Appalachian cooking tradition, they tend to focus on restaurants in regional cities such as Asheville, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Cleveland, or even the bustling metropolis of Atlanta. However, Casada believes that they are missing the boat, as these cities do not fully capture the essence of the Appalachian culinary experience. Fishing for Chickens is peppered with anecdotes, personal memories, and experiences, as well as the wisdom of wonderful cooks, and recipes that reflect the overall high-country culinary experience. The book includes dishes that Casada has cooked and eaten, recipes handed down through family or close friends, food memories of an intensely personal nature, and an abiding love for a fast-fading way of life. In addition to twenty-four chapters focusing on diverse topics such as Yard Bird, Nuts, and New Years Fare, the author includes nearly two hundred family recipes. With his story, Casada guides readers through a fast-vanishing culinary world that merits not only recollection but preservation.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780820362120