A Culinary History of the Great Black Swamp: Buckeye Candy, Bratwurst & Apple Butter - Paperback

by Nathan C. Crook (Author)

The cultural and physical landscape of the Great Black Swamp is a monument to the hardship and perseverance of the people who drained and settled the region. They transformed densely forested wetlands into one of the most productive agricultural areas in the nation. Commercial crops of corn, soy, tomatoes and wheat are dominant in the fertile loam of southeastern Michigan, northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio. However, each immigrant group calling this place home brought its own culinary traditions--from pickled eggs to peanut butter pie. With a foreword by Lucy Long of the Center for Food and Culture, author Nathan Crook explores the landscape, history, culture and representative cuisines that make eating here a unique and memorable experience.

Author Biography

Bowling Green resident Nathan C. Crook, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and Assistant Professor of English and Agricultural Communication at The Ohio State University's agricultural campus in Wooster. He researches and writes about the myriad uses of food as a community identifier and a mode of communication. Lucy Long, PhD, is the executive director of the Center for Food and Culture, based in Bowling Green, Ohio. The organization's mission is to to promote an understanding of the power of food to connect individuals to past, place and other people.