Sometimes the best books are not on the bestseller’s list. Often a great read is one that you stumble upon much later than its original release date. Pat Willard’s America Eats! On the Road with the WPA — the Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chittlin’ Feasts That Define Real American Food is one of those unique books.
Willard, whose culinary writing has been nominated for awards, discovered long-forgotten manuscripts written during the Great Depression hidden in the archives of the Library of Congress. These stories collecting dust were from a project called America Eats! commissioned by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers Project; the articles collected were never published after the government abandoned funding for the WPA efforts.
Willard used the original, unpublished America Eats! submissions to guide her on a yearlong adventure following the footsteps, and forks, of these out-of-work writers who illuminated the landscape through stories of community and food. She turned her road trip into this 2008 book that I picked up almost a decade after it was published.
The WPA writers, like Willard decades later, traversed the American landscape to tell the nation’s story through our collective experience around eating. What we eat, where we eat, and how we come together define us as a culture and a nation. Willard effortlessly dances between original WPA articles, republished without edits, and that of her own voice that serves as a modern-day narrator that places antiquated writing into today’s cultural context.
America Eats! is not a cookbook, even though Willard does incorporate some updated versions based on dishes from the original stories. Rather, it’s a window into our past that provides a door to our present. The tastes, sights, and smells of each culinary destination, from Georgia to Washington state, leap off the page drawing the reader into the barbecue or melon festival or wild game dinner being described. The collective stories of food and community reflect the rich cultural heritage of the United States. Each dish discussed, each town visited, reflects how our culinary heritage has been shaped by the flavors brought by European immigrants, Native Americans, Central Americans, South Americans, and Africans. Migration patterns and agricultural resources further shaded each region’s unique food profile.
This book particularly appealed to me because I saw threads of my own community tapestry reflected in the stories told decades ago. As a native of the Midwest and a former elected official, two chapters really hit home for me: Chapter 3 on county and state fairs and Chapter 5 about campaigning at community fairs and festivals. Tales of governors chopping produce and participating in calf-roping contests back in the 1930s sounds strikingly similar to my time judging 4H barns and entering into a bricklaying contest at county fairs in my district. Other chapters on church suppers and community gatherings also reminded me of annual apple festivals in town squares and Swiss steak dinners in church basements all across small towns in my home state of Ohio.
Willard also found that the same sense of community remained in many of the areas she visited on her cross-country tour generations after the original America Eats! stories were told. Lions Clubs and American Legions described during the Depression era were still serving as community cornerstones today, bringing people together with a meal, just as they did all of those years before.
America Eats! reminds us that community is not measured in likes, shares, or followers. It is about connecting with your neighbors, sharing a meal. If you long to get lost in the American story, this book is for you. Maybe you will be inspired to leave your phone at home, take a road trip, visit a county fair, or eat at a church dinner instead of getting take-out.
Capri Cafaro (@thehonorablecsc) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a former member of the Ohio State Senate, where she was the Senate minority leader. She is now an executive in residence at American University’s School of Public Affairs.
