When visitors travel to Pennsylvania Dutch Country, they are encouraged
to consume the local culture by way of "regional specialties" such as
cream-filled whoopie pies and deep-fried fritters of every variety. Yet
many of the dishes and confections visitors have come to expect from the
region did not emerge from Pennsylvania Dutch culture but from
expectations fabricated by local-color novels or the tourist industry.
At the same time, other less celebrated (and rather more delicious)
dishes, such as sauerkraut and stuffed pork stomach, have been enjoyed
in Pennsylvania Dutch homes across various localities and economic
strata for decades.
Celebrated food historian and cookbook writer William Woys Weaver delves
deeply into the history of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine to sort fact from
fiction in the foodlore of this culture. Through interviews with
contemporary Pennsylvania Dutch cooks and extensive research into
cookbooks and archives, As American as Shoofly Pie offers a
comprehensive and counterintuitive cultural history of Pennsylvania
Dutch cuisine, its roots and regional characteristics, its communities
and class divisions, and, above all, its evolution into a uniquely
American style of cookery. Weaver traces the origins of Pennsylvania
Dutch cuisine as far back as the first German settlements in America and
follows them forward as New Dutch Cuisine continues to evolve and
respond to contemporary food concerns. His detailed and affectionate
chapters present a rich and diverse portrait of a living culinary
practice--widely varied among different religious sects and localized
communities, rich and poor, rural and urban--that complicates common
notions of authenticity.
Because there's no better way to understand food culture than to
practice it, As American as Shoofly Pie's cultural history is
accompanied by dozens of recipes, drawn from exacting research,
kitchen-tested, and adapted to modern cooking conventions. From soup to
Schnitz, these dishes lay the table with a multitude of regional
tastes and stories.
Hockt eich hie mit uns, un esst eich satt--Sit down with us and eat
yourselves full!
