This is a cookbook and documenty of Appalachian food. It is a unique blend of the recipes brought by settlers and the native people-Cajun, French, German, Scots, escaped slaves and Cherokee. This cuisine is a merging of all of the cultures from the people that settled in the mountains. It is born of fresh ingredients, wild plants and game. It fed small farmers with little ground, which might support an essential pig, and maybe a cow. They hunted a great deal and gathered what was wild and grew other crops, notably corn. The mountaineers were cash poor but masters of self sufficiency. They farmed what the mountain land would support and made the best of it. Mountain cooking is not "Southern." It is truly, "Mountain Food." It is, quite simply "Soul Food." Some recipes are very old others more recent. But these are all dishes you can find today on tables throughout Appalachia.