Welcome to America Eats!
A spanking new substack newsletter
In 2006, I hit the road with a Great Depression-era manuscript entitled America Eats! Written in the last years of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) by out-of-work writers, it proposed to be “an account of group eating as an important American social institution.” The writers attended country fairs and church suppers, political barbecues and social club gatherings. They searched for remnants of Native American rituals, such as the Choctow Indian’s funeral cry and various events that introduced immigrant cooking to local communities.
The manuscript served as my road map to write my own book that would explore whether American food still played a part in forming our nation’s identity. More times than not I discovered what the WPA writers’ did—we continue to be a nation that comes together around a common table which serves to dilute our differences by the simple pleasure of eating together.
These harder times, these changing times. . . .will also provide more opportunities to strengthen our communities. Despite the Great Depression, WPA writers found strong communities. Willard found them, too. Food will, and should, play a central role in this new period in American life. —Rose Hayden Smith, Civil Eats
It seems to me this is a time to return to the road. In this historic period of political, racial, ethnic and cultural upheaval—and most especially as we emerge from the pandemic’s isolation—it’s important to understand whether common ground can still exists around a table.
Twice a week, I’ll be sending you stories from my wanderings. We’ll go from biker rallies to ethnic festivals, urban farms, town fairs, church suppers, local fundraising events and into many many kitchens to discover how we live today in America.
This Saturday, I’m in East New York sitting with Ms. Johana, the last of her generation’s urban gardeners in New York City’s GreenThumb program!
Beat the traffic and subscribe to my newsletter now! And please share it with friends and family who you think may enjoy it, too.
I was part of the first few NYC community Gardens, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in something like 1978.