AROLE MARSH

Someone said "vintage" food was hot. I assumed that they meant that some leftovers were on the stove or in the microwave. They did not. They meant that in the world I live in-the world of food and publishing-that vintage recipes are all the rage. Do tell.

As far as I know, vintage vittles have been the rage all my life and before. Old-fashioned recipes were all there were to cook and eat, especially in the South. To paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt on women, "Being the eater of old-time Southern food, what more could you want to be?" 

Yes, the food of the past was not always so healthy, but it surely was delicious. My mother was more of an "open a can" kind of cook. This made me uber-appreciate my grandmother's good, old-fashioned, down home, from scratch cooking. Just the sound of her pound cake batter whirring in the mixer made my mouth water. The scent of cocoa and confectioner's sugar as she made chocolate frosting actually caused me to drool. 

It wasn't all about the sweets. Surely the banana pudding and the peach cobbler would never have tasted as good if not preceded by marvelous meat loaf, fried chicken, ham and red-eye gravy, mac and cheese, collards, cornbread in pot likker, and more. 

As a writer (actually mostly for children and the classroom) about "vittles" of all eras-The Revolution, Civil War, Colonial Era, and others-I have a pretty good background in the history, recipes, stories, legends, trivia, and other facts about vintage food. But more than that, I have a sixth sense from pure experience of the reasons we care about these foods, crave them, and enjoy them so much. If they have come back in style, well good. If they ever went out of style, I'm not truly quite aware of that, at least not at my Sunday dinner table, church meeting, or at places like Cahill's in Bluffton, South Carolina. 

So without further ado, falderol, or fiddle-dee-dee, here are some authentic vintage recipes, lore, and more. Don't just read, cook, smell, taste, enjoy. Vintage is going to be around for a very long time. Cook some. Eat a lot. Don't forget the nap afterwards.