Staff Pick of the Week
Red-Flannel Hash and Shoo-Fly Pie
For my staff pick of the week, I have chosen a book titled Red-Flannel Hash and Shoo-Fly Pie written by Lila Perl and illustrated by the celebrated children’s-book illustrator Eric Carle. It tells the story of the varied regional foods and dishes in the United States of America. It is a cross between a history book and a cookbook, with printed linocut illustrations that bring the book to life with a couple of recipes to end each chapter. Our copy is a first edition published in 1965 by The World Publishing Company in Cleveland and New York.
The book is split up into eight chapters by the regions: New England, The Middle Atlantic States, The South, The Midwest and The Great Plains, The Southwest, The West, Alaska, and Hawaii. The book covers roughly four hundred years of circumstances such as architecture, jobs, different cooking methods, ingredients, ethnicity, race, class, and geography that shaped food and its culture, and importantly the impact that Native Americans had on all of these.
I chose this book as I enjoy learning about the history of how food has developed and changed, as well as trying out recipes to gain more insight. America is often categorized as a melting pot of generic food when really there are so many unique ingredients and dishes that originate in this country.
The other draw for me was the incredible illustrations carved and printed on linoleum blocks of everything from tools, ingredients, animals, and people. An illustrated spread begins each region’s chapter, with the others embedded in the text and the margins. The illustrations use an expert combination of mark-making and flats of black to embellish and accompany the author’s writing.
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– Clare, Special Collections Undergraduate Assistant