An overview of the food situation in the South during the American Civil War. Military and civilian anecdotes. Published 1988. 38 authentic and commemorative recipes, 55 research notes, 37 pages. 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Soft cover, saddle-stitched. ISBN-10: 0-925117-06-4. ISBN-13: 978-0-925117-06-9. This is the Compact Edition (spineless booklet format) available at museum, historic site, and specialty bookseller venues.**
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“We all have such entire reliance in the justice of our cause and the valor of our men, and, above all, the blessing of Heaven!” wrote Judith Brockenbrough McGuire on May 10, 1861. The “cause” to which Mrs. McGuire referred was the Confederate cause.
Cooking for the Cause, by Patricia B. Mitchell, brims with quotations, recipes (both old and updated), and illuminating narrative about the “coping” of the South.
Because of war-time shortages (brought on by the fact that most manufacturing was done in the North, and by the coastal blockade), Southerners became experts at finding substitutes for necessary items. Coffee made from acorns or tea brewed from holly leaves were drunk, but not with delight. “Apple Pie Without Apples” and unleavened biscuits were baked. (Indigestion trumps starvation.)
Read much more about Southern ingenuity in Cooking for the Cause.
This Compact Edition of Cooking for the Cause can be purchased as a Kindle eBook Edition (Ad*). This title is also available as a larger annotated and indexed Bookshelf Edition.
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