A taste of Appalachia, plated with history
By bringing together chefs, scholars, and students, the immersive meal A Taste of Appalachia, Past and Present transformed archival materials into a living, public experience.
On the evening of March 26, the Maroon Door in downtown Blacksburg hummed with conversation, clinking glassware, and anticipation. As plates moved from the kitchen to the table, they carried not just food but culture, memory, and history drawn from University Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives.
The curated culinary event, A Taste of Appalachia, Past and Present, was the result of months of teamwork among chefs, archivists, professors, and students. Together, they transformed historical research into an immersive, communal experience.
From the archives to the kitchen
As planning for the dinner took shape, the team turned to Newman Library to deepen their research. Chefs Travis Milton, Stephen Doyle, Justin Bailey, and Brittney Mehrkens, along with faculty members Danna Agmon, Danille Christensen, and Anna Zeide, met with Kira Dietz, assistant director of Special Collections and University Archives, to explore Appalachian materials in the Food and Drink History Collection.
Dietz and Christensen, a folklorist and associate professor in the Department of Religion and Culture, curated materials that spanned decades of cooking in Appalachia. Railroad menus, oral histories, chefs’ notes, and marketing materials all suggested the breadth of Appalachian foodways, including how commercial foods have long been used in local kitchens.
As the chefs paged through history and rethought familiar ingredients, they discussed ways to showcase these recipes — some from the past and some still a centerpiece of family traditions and folklore.
“It was invaluable to see the history of certain dishes I wanted to represent at the dinner,” said Doyle. “In part to show that proteins like rabbit are not a regional quirk, but a deeply rooted resource in Appalachia and beyond.”
Mehrkens was blown away by the history represented in church cookbooks, culinary pamphlets, and handwritten recipes. She loved seeing how ingredients and practices changed over time.
“Before going to Special Collections, I wasn’t aware of this resource and that it was offered not only to students, but to the whole community,” said Mehrkens. “I think this event brought that awareness to the community.”
Chefs doing history
This project sits at the heart of the broader project, Chefs Doing History, led by Zeide and Agmon in collaboration with the American Historical Review, the flagship journal of the historical profession. A Taste of Appalachia, Past and Present was designed as the project’s local anchor, grounded in place, memory, and region.
“We envisioned three nested components: a local Appalachian dinner, a special issue of the journal, and a website featuring these chefs and other chefs doing historical work from around the world,” said Zeide. “Ultimately, the goal was to showcase how historical perspectives can deepen people’s relationship with their work across many sectors.”
Agmon said that, as the chefs interpreted history, they made historical arguments through flavor.
“These chefs were not only collaborating with historians, but they were also themselves historians,” said Agmon. “When Stephen served a plate of stewed apples seasoned with curry powder, he was reminding us of the global networks that have historically connected Appalachia to the rest of the world. When Travis made miso out of Doritos or vinegar from Mountain Dew, he was making an argument about the resourcefulness of Appalachian cooks when industrialization changed traditional foodways.”
Appalachia beyond the stereotype
From the outset, the planning team rejected a narrow or nostalgic version of Appalachian food.
“To get beyond stereotypical hillbilly images, we focused on late 20th and early 21st century kitchens in Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia where each of the chefs was raised,” said Christensen. “The chefs wanted to do more than showcase their own creativity and professional training. They wanted to incorporate the foods and skills they grew up with. So from the beginning a variety of pickled produce and reworked commercial foods, such as canned oysters and salmon, were ‘on the table.’”
The final menu blended historical techniques with modern sensibilities and locally sourced ingredients with industrial ones. “Instead of trying to recreate a moment in time, we wanted to show how the past can be a resource for the present,” said Christensen.
Menu highlights:
- Kentucky rolled oyster with bay sauce aioli and sherry
- Duck with black walnut demi-glace, potato purée, and spiced pickled blackberries
- Buttermilk fried rabbit with Hasenpfeffer gravy
- Sour corn with Allan Benton’s bacon
- Apple-rhubarb cobbler with Golden Glow ice cream
When Mehrkens found the pineapple and orange-flavored Golden Glow ice cream recipe in a community cookbook, it became the perfect example of how the archive directly shaped the menu.
”Making different ice-cream flavors is one of my favorite things,” said Mehrkens.
A room full of stories
At the tables, adorned with upcycled containers of daffodils and pansies, guests could leaf through historic cookbooks from Stephen Doyle’s collection or touch trivets crocheted by Lacey Doyle and Maroon Door front-of-house manager Emma Shockley. Vintage salt-and-pepper shakers from black bears and corn to roses and state park souvenirs pointed to broader histories of the region. Conversation cards invited strangers to reflect on the role of food in their own lives and explore their perceptions of Appalachia.
“Rather than simply gathering people to consume Appalachia or talk about Appalachia,” said Christensen, “we wanted guests to connect themselves to the culinary experience they were having. For example, how did values historically important in the mountains — including the kinds of thrift and creative reuse evident in the menu and decor — resonate with their own?”
“People are hungry for engaged learning, elevated food experiences, and a chance to see the community and Virginia Tech come together,” said Zeide. “It offered something new for the public and brought the intellectual strengths of Virginia Tech into public spaces.”
“It was important that we recognize the history of the recipes, with inspiration coming from Indigenous peoples, African influence, Scotch-Irish, and German settlers,” said Doyle. “I think that the unique populations that contributed so much to this region are synonymous with what Appalachian identity is today.”
Guests departed with a souvenir booklet written by Christensen and Jessica Spratley, a graduate assistant for Special Collections and history graduate student. It offered context on the menu, chefs, and tablescapes.
Why it matters
The dinner illustrated the power of collections when activated beyond the library’s reading room. “The Food and Drink History Collection was central to the project from the beginning,” said Zeide. “We wanted chefs to engage directly with archival materials, and Kira made that possible.”
The project was also meaningful for the chefs. “I grew up in Elliston, Virginia, farming sheep, goats, chickens, and a free-range pheasant at one point,” said Doyle. “My earliest memories of food are around my grandmothers’ kitchen tables. This dinner was about recreating that feeling of cooking collaboratively and having us all crowded around tables together.”
Milton also shared fond food memories of his family. “My great-grandparents taught me how to plant gardens, shuck beans, and preserve produce through canning. They also put me to work behind the counter of The Village, the restaurant they owned in rural Castlewood, Virginia.”
Likewise, Bailey would watch his grandmother, Dolly Kennedy, create meals using only the resources available. “That experience instilled in me a profound sense of pride and identity,” said Bailey, who enjoys incorporating ingredients of his childhood into his dishes.
“Bringing an event like this to the community was special and felt like a tribute to our ancestors, the ones who made this area what it is today,” said Mehrkens. “I grew up with a mother in the culinary field, so I have always had a great respect for the culinary world. My grandmother grew up all around the world and taught me how important culture is, even the ones you aren’t a part of.”
“History matters. Food matters,” said Zeide. “Places and people are dynamic and complex. Learning their stories matters.”
As the final plates were cleared and conversations lingered, A Taste of Appalachia, Past and Present left behind more than satisfied diners. It offered a model for how universities, libraries, and communities can collaborate, using archives as living ingredients.
“What made this so exciting was seeing how history can take many shapes,” said Agmon. “Sometimes it looks like an article. Sometimes it tastes like stewed apples with curry powder.”
