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Southern Provisions

Dr. David Shields
USC

(Originally broadcast 01/22/16) -  Southern food is America’s quintessential cuisine. From creamy grits to simmering pots of beans and greens, we think we know how these classic foods should taste. Yet the southern food we eat today tastes almost nothing like the dishes our ancestors enjoyed because the varied crops and livestock that originally defined this cuisine have largely disappeared. Now, a growing movement of chefs and farmers is seeking to change that by recovering the rich flavor and diversity of southern food.

At the center of that movement is Dr. David Shields, who has spent over a decade researching early American agricultural and cooking practices. Shields joins Walter Edgar to talk about the history of Southern food ways and the current recovery of traditional foods and methods. Shields is the author of Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine (University of Chicago Press, 2015).

All Stations: Fri, Nov 25, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Nov 27, 4 pm

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.