Stirring Up the Past

Most of us eat day in, day out without giving a second thought to the wealth of history and culture that shapes our dining habits and taste preferences. Our recipes, menus, ceremonies, and etiquette are directly shaped by our country’s rich immigrant experience, the history and innovations of food preparation technology, and the ever-changing availability of key ingredients.

Stirring Up The Past, a cookbook created by the Butts County Historical Society, commemorates the Smithsonian Institute’s traveling exhibit, Key Ingredients: America by Food, which was on display at the Indian Springs Hotel/Museum last fall.  I was honored when my friend, Melinda Atha, Executive Director of the Butts County Chamber of Commerce, asked me to contribute to the monumental project. Five of my family’s favorite recipes are included in the cookbook.

Fond memories of good food are common bonds that unite the people of Butts County. Old family recipes, many with stories and memories, were submitted by local citizens and compiled into a one-of-a-kind cookbook aptly named, Stirring Up The Past. This collection of historical recipes has been handed down from one generation to the next. Recipes from the Native Americans who lived here long before the white man came to Indian Springs are included, along with memories of the grand hotels that once flourished in this middle Georgia resort community during the first half of the twentieth century. Old recipes from the Elder Hotel, (1879-1984), are also remembered in this cookbook.

Key Ingredients: America by Food will be traveling to more than 200 rural communities across the US through 2013.

1 comments :

  1. Well, I am sooooo impressed! Love cookbooks! It will be better since you have contributed!

    ReplyDelete

 

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Meet the Publisher

Bonnie Morét is an award-winning photographer recognized by The Georgia Council of the Arts as "an exceptional representation of contemporary Georgia art work." Her photography is featured on Georgia Public Broadcast's Georgia Traveler. Her exhibitions include Fifth Annual Exposure Awards at Musee du Louvre in Paris, France, Art Takes Miami at Scope Art during Art Basel Miami, Metro Montage XIII at the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art, World of Water at the Georgia Aquarium, Open Walls at Black Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon, Wholly Georgia: A Look at the Effects of Southern Religious Culture, sponsored by the Art History League and Georgia State University, at Mint Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, 6x6 at the Rochester Contemporary Arts Center in Rochester, New York, @Phonography: Dialogue in the Wireless Age, at 3 Ring Circus in New Orleans, Louisiana, and About Lands and Lives of the Civil War at the 6th Cavalry Museum in Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia. Her photography appears in Modern Luxury/The Atlantan, Jezebel Magazine, and hangs in the executive offices at the Georgia State Capitol as part of the Art of Georgia exhibit. Corporate clients include Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta History Center, Chanel Cosmetics, Christian Dior Cosmetics, Sharp Mountain Vineyards, PM Realty Group, Granite Properties, Road Atlanta, Patrón Tequila, StubHub, CBM Records and The Washington Auto Show.