Center for Southern Food Studies

Center for Southern Food Studies
Name	Center for Southern Food Studies
Type	Research center

Center for Southern Food Studies is a research and cultural institution focused on the culinary traditions, agricultural systems, and foodways of the American South. The center situates southern cuisine within broader histories tied to regions such as the Deep South, the Mississippi Delta, and Appalachia, and engages with topics connected to figures and institutions including James Beard Foundation, Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. Du Bois, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor. The center operates at the intersection of archives and fieldwork, collaborating with universities, historical societies, and museums such as Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

History

Founded in the late 20th century, the center emerged from collaborations among scholars associated with Oxford University Press, University of Mississippi, Tulane University, Vanderbilt University, Emory University, and Duke University. Early initiatives linked to programs at Smith College, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Auburn University, and Clemson University drew on oral histories collected in partnership with National Endowment for the Humanities, National Archives, and regional organizations like the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Influences and inspirations cited by founders referenced writers and chefs including Harold McGee, M.F.K. Fisher, Edna Lewis, Paul Prudhomme, Alice Waters, and Sean Brock. The center's institutional evolution involved grants from MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and awards such as the James Beard Foundation Award.

Programs and Activities

Programming includes lecture series with scholars and practitioners linked to Smithsonian Folklife Festival, symposia co-hosted with Southern Foodways Alliance, workshops drawing chefs associated with Chez Panisse, educators from Johns Hopkins University, and public demonstrations featuring culinary figures like Leah Chase, Jessie Ball duPont, Beverly Collins and Nathalie Dupree. The center sponsors field schools sending researchers to sites such as the Piney Woods, Appalachian Trail, Coastal South, and Lowcountry; residencies support artists and writers connected to American Folklore Society, Association for the Study of Food and Society, and Society for Historical Archaeology. Community-facing events have partnered with institutions like Historic New Orleans Collection, Georgia Historical Society, and Kentucky Historical Society.

Research and Publications

Research agendas focus on agricultural histories tied to Cotton Belt, Tobacco Road, Sweet Potato Belt, and foodstuffs associated with Okra, Collard Greens, Gulf Coast seafood, and Pecan. The center publishes monographs and edited volumes with presses including University Press of Mississippi, University of Georgia Press, University of North Carolina Press, and Bloomsbury Publishing, and maintains working paper series circulated to scholars at American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, Agricultural History Society, and Oral History Association. Contributors and editors have included culinary historians such as John T. Edge, Michael Twitty, Tiya Miles, Sara M. Evans, and Stephanie Coontz; peer-reviewed articles have appeared in journals like Food, Culture & Society, Gastronomica, and Southern Cultures.

Collections and Archives

Archival holdings encompass manuscript collections associated with figures such as Edna Lewis, Leah Chase, Eudora Welty, and Zora Neale Hurston, along with plantation records linked to Natchez Trace, Beaufort County, and Charleston County. The center curates oral history recordings in partnership with StoryCorps, field notebooks from ethnographers tied to Frances Densmore, and cookbook archives that include rare editions from publishers like Knopf and HarperCollins. Ethnographic collections document markets from Pike Place Market-style vendors to Southern marketplaces in Savannah, Georgia, New Orleans, and Birmingham, Alabama; culinary artifacts have been accessioned with museums including New-York Historical Society and American Museum of Natural History.

Partnerships and Community Engagement

Strategic partnerships include collaborations with Southern Foodways Alliance, Smithsonian Institution, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Charleston Foundation, and local farmers’ networks such as Rodale Institute and Slow Food USA. Community engagement projects have worked with nonprofits like Heifer International, KITCHEN Community, and FoodCorps to address local food access in places such as Mississippi Delta, Piedmont (United States), and Coastal Georgia. Educational outreach has linked the center with public schools in districts overseen by New Orleans Public Schools, Richmond Public Schools, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for curriculum projects incorporating primary sources from Library of Congress and exhibitions staged with Museum of Food and Drink.

Governance and Funding

Governance structures mirror those of research institutes affiliated with universities such as Yale University, Princeton University, Harvard University, and Columbia University, featuring advisory boards with members from James Beard Foundation, academic departments at University of Kentucky, University of Tennessee, and University of Alabama, and representatives from cultural institutions like Southern Foodways Alliance and National Endowment for the Arts. Funding sources have included grants and endowments from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and federal programs administered by National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation, along with philanthropic gifts from families associated with foundations such as Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Category:Culinary organizations in the United States