"It Takes a Cookbook to Raise a Village: Laurel, Mississippi, and Community Cookbooks"

News item published on: 2015-09-21 13:10:54

Community cookbooks were often used to raise money to build cemeteries or parks, to pay for school trips, or to support church activities. However, many embraced a more direct form of social activism. These cookbooks promoted better eating and social harmony.

In his talk, "It Takes a Cookbook to Raise a Village: Laurel, Mississippi and Community Cookbooks," Andrew P. Haley discusses Mississippi community cookbooks with a mission, focusing on Catherine Gardiner’s "The Laurel Cookbook" as a quixotic example of a cookbook designed to create a “cosmopolitan” city.

Refreshments will be prepared from The Laurel Cookbook, a 1914 cookbook compiled by Catherine Marshall Gardiner adn the Women of St. John's Guild in Laurel, MS. Those interested in preparing a dish for the potluck can sign up at http://bit.ly/1Q8Cdqp.

The lecture will take place in Cook Library Room 123 on September 30, 2015, at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Jennifer Brannock at Jennifer. Branncok@usm.edu or 601.266.4347.