Nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and
stretching from Hampton Roads to Assateague Island, Virginia's Eastern
Shore is a distinctly southern place with an exceptionally southern
taste. In this inviting narrative, Bernard L. Herman welcomes readers
into the communities, stories, and flavors that season a land where the
distance from tide to tide is often less than five miles. Blending
personal observation, history, memories of harvests and feasts, and
recipes, Herman tells of life along the Eastern Shore through the eyes
of its growers, watermen, oyster and clam farmers, foragers, church
cooks, restaurant owners, and everyday residents.
Four centuries of encounter, imagination, and invention continue to
shape the foodways of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, melding influences
from Indigenous peoples, European migrants, enslaved and free West
Africans, and more recent newcomers. Herman reveals how local
ingredients and the cooks who have prepared them for the table have
developed a distinctly American terroir--the flavors of a place
experienced through its culinary and storytelling traditions. This
terroir flourishes even as it confronts challenges from climate
change, declining fish populations, and farming monoculture. Herman
reveals this resilience through the recipes and celebrations that hold
meaning, not just for those who live there but for all those folks who
sit at their tables--and other tables near and far.
