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Favorite Recipes: Community Cookbooks in the North Carolina Collection

***To start exhibit, scroll down and click the first image below.***

This exhibit was created in cooperation with the North Carolina Collection by Robert Buerglener, Research Associate, Information Science + Studies, and Hannah L. Jacobs, Digital Humanities Specialist, Digital Art History and Visual Culture Research Lab at Duke University. 

Click the first image below to start the exhibit, then use the right or left arrows to navigate. See also the Durham County Library Community Cookbook Zine, a project of Library Fest: The Food Edition.

Favorite Recipes: Community Cookbooks in the North Carolina Collection
What are community cookbooks: You may have seen them before, and you might even have a couple: community cookbooks are collections of recipes created by schools, religious organizations, or other groups to support their work or to raise money for a cause.
Why community cookbooks? Community cookbooks can tell us how to make lots of delicious dishes. They can connect us with loved ones and with our communities. They can be windows into the lives of recipe authors and keepers of our favorite food memories.
Cookbooks in the North Carolina Collection. The cookbooks come from many different organizations, including philanthropic groups, religious groups, social clubs, and businesses. Covers shown include North Carolina PTA Blueprints for Cooking (1955), Favorite Recipes from Duke Memorial Methodist Church (1970), and Simply the Best Recipes from Little River Elementary School PTA (2000)
Women authored most of the cookbooks in the collection, usually to raise money for a cause. Examples shown: D.S.S. Delights was created "to raise money for the Education Fund of the Durham County Department of Social Services." Recipes from Gracie's Kitchen supported the work of the North Paw Stray Fund, an animal rescue society in Durham.
The Duke University School of Nursing Almunae Association published Gothic Gourmet around 1961 to benefit their scholarship fund. Favorite Recipes raised money for the Durham chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a national organization that supports the education of female students worldwide.
Most of the cookbooks in the North Carolina Collection date from the 1950s to the early 2000s, so the recipes can tell us a lot about what the authors thought about food and changes going on in Durham and in broader society over those decades. Many, but not all, of the authors were white women and/or middle class. We'll meet several cooks and authors in this exhibit whose work offers key examples of Black and indigenous cultures in North Carolina.
Some cookbooks reflect the traditional roles for women as mothers and wives. The editor of this cookbook, Mrs. Charles E. Zeigler, wrote, "I would like to express my thanks and appreciate to my husband for permitting me to undertake this project..." Shown: cover of Favorite Recipes of the Women of Southeastern Gas Association 1964
Some cookbooks hint at changes to come in women's roles. According to the introduction of Jaycette Gems, published in 1956, many of their members were "business and professional women." Even then, they "know full well the value of the adage, 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'"
A few cookbooks in the collection highlight indigenous cultures in North Carolina. In Cherokee Cooklore, tribal member Aggie Ross Lossiah teachers the book's white authors how to make bean bread.
Some cookbooks in the collection embrace community recipes from beyond North Carolina. In 1982, St. Joseph's AME published a cookbook in celebration of its 113th anniversary.
To add to the congregation's recipes, editor Melzie Elliott sought contributions from her friends across the United States. The book documents an extended community of 20th-century African American home cooks.
The North Carolina Collection also contains cookbooks that originated in cooking segments on popular Durham-based television and radio shows. Before social media, these shows created communities on the air by sharing recipes from across the region.
Evelyn Lavinder "Peggy" Mann was a Durham broadcast pioneer. From 1954 to 1980, she hosted an afternoon television show on WTVD Channel 11.
A 1956 article in the Durham Morning Herald reported that Mann sometimes received 400 or 500 letters a week when she offered a cookbook to viewers. One letter writer praised Mann because "you always use ingredients farmer's wives have on their pantry shelves."
Though Mann explored many topics om the air, including women's health, cooking was always an important part of the show. A Book of Ideas mixed recipes with suggestions for crafts and general household tips. In 1960, a Durham newspaper columnist called this cookbook "a tribute to the dignity of homemaking and stimulus for a whole army of women."
Mann dedicated this book to her mother and both of her grandmothers, "who passed along to me my interest in cookery and in collecting the recipes that I attempt to prepare for you from day to day."
Radio call-in programs were another way people could share recipes and take part in on-the-air communities. WPTF Radio AM680, a Triangle-area radio station, produced several cookbooks in the collection.
On a long-running morning call-in show called Ask Your Neighbor, people exchanged recipes and advice about housekeeping. This is the Ask Your Neighbor cookbook from 1980, showing the first host of the program.
1982 and 1990 versions of Ask Your Neighbor were both compiled from recipes that "thousands and thousands" of listeners submitted to the program.
Community and cooking go far beyond cookbooks. We are asking the Durham community about their favorite food memories. Here's what folks are sharing...
What's your favorite food memory? From Paula: Gotta be CHEESE. All time best food in the world. Every kind is amazing. Love of cheese runs in my family - we can't get enough! From Barbara: "Made in the bowl vinaigrette" is important to me because it's one of the first things I taught my teenager to make when they began to take an interest in cooking. It's simple and easy but it really tastes so much better than store-bought vinaigrette!
What's your favorite food memory? From Glenn: My mother was Vietnamese, and all of our holiday gatherings always included American and Vietnamese food. At Thanksgiving, my mother would find creative ways to use leftover turkey. This recipe is my attempt to recreate my mother's dish. From Judith: A Seder at Passover is always a special meal, with family and friends - it is both a cultural and a culinary event. That's when I usually served my Sweet and Sour Brisket (along with other options for non-meat eaters). Other food specific to Passover, like charoset, a mixture of fruit, nuts, and sweet wine, is eagerly anticipated and always enjoyed.
What's your favorite food memory? From Teresa: Every year, my family eats curry pumpkin soup for lunch at Thanksgiving. We pair it with crusty bread and a salad. My aunt started the tradition years ago, and even when we cannot all be together to celebrate, I am sure to make her recipe. The warm and fragrant spices will always remind me of being in her house and feeling at home: surrounded by my family's love. From Kristen: Peanut butter pie is special because my great grandma would let me help make it during the holidays. She was always cooking and never let anyone help. So it was special if you got enlisted!
What's your favorite food memory? From Kat: My favorite food memory is from 20 years ago in South Korea where my friend taught me how to make traditional Korean clam soup called Sujabee. From Jen: Garden season! A big part of my childhood memories tie in to my dad's vegetable garden. There are photos of me holding zucchini almost as big as me, eating giant cherry tomatoes, etc. Growing that food, sharing it with neighbors, knowing what asparagus that has gone to seed looks like. Now I've got my own garden full of more vegetables than I can reasonably eat.
What's your favorite food memory? From Kelsey: My father always liked to make great slabs of brisket for college football tailgates seasoned with dried chiles, garlic powder, oregano, and copious black pepper. He's an engineer and I was always a bit of an art kid, so we didn't always have common interests, but those tailgates brought us together every year while I was attending college in Texas. From Lauren: My mom's corn pudding is a recipe that was first given to her by her mom, and it probably goes back further in the family than that. We make it every Thanksgiving and it is so easy and delicious. I've brought it to several other Thanksgivings and it always gets rave reviews and people always ask me for the recipe!
What's your favorite food memory? From Sarah: In summer 2020, after tightly quarantining for 14 days and receiving a negative PCR test, I went to the beach with my family. I hadn't seen them since March 14, and in those horrible, uncertain first few months of the pandemic, this beach trip was the thing I was looking forward to most. I made a garlic butter rolls and a favorite pasta recipe for them that night, and we all sat around a long wooden table, eating until we were stuffed, hearing the ocean in the background. It was such a joy and such a relief to be with them safely after so many weeks of dread.
What's your favorite food memory? From Kevin: We invited some notoriously anti-vegetable friends over for dinner in summer 2021. I made a massaged kale salad and, to our mutual surprise, they loved the salad and even asked for the recipe! It goes to show how far the right recipe can change your relationship to a food you didn't think you liked. Pro-tip: massage the kale (I mean it; really get in there and squeeze those handfuls of kale as hard as you can) with a generous sprinkling of kosher sale, a glug of olive oil, and fresh lemon juice. Enjoy with shaved Parmesan cheese for a super healthful and delicious salad.
Share your memories of Durham food history! What's a food memory that's important to you? A favorite food? An event with friends or family? Tell us what you ate (or cooked!), and why it was special to you. To share your memory, to go https://bit.ly/durham-food-memories
Be part of Durham cookbook and food history! Although this exhibit has focused on cookbooks from the past, people are still making community cookbooks - and so can you!
Flyer asking people to submit recipes for a community cookbook zine as part of the Second Annual Library Fest held by Durham County Library in 2022
About the North Carolina Collection. The North Carolina Collection preserves and makes available materials related to the history of Durham city and county, as well as North Carolina-related topics. Library staff are working to include all cooking cultures of North Carolina in the cookbook collection, and we welcome materials from all community groups and individuals. To learn more, visit the North Carolina Collection or email ncc@dconc.gov
This exhibit was created in cooperation with the North Carolina Collection by: Robert Buerglener, Research Associate, Information Science + Studies, Duke University; and Hannah L. Jacobs, Digital Humanities Specialist, Digital Art History & Visual Culture Research Lab, Duke University. For more information, please visit https://iss.duke.edu