One of my favorite scenes in Steel Magnolias (yes, there are plenty to choose from) involves the awkward but endearing Annelle Dupuy, who famously promised Miss Truvy she would not let her personal tragedy affect her ability to do good hair. Annelle was in a twist because she was making red beans and rice but didn’t have time for the beans to soak overnight:
I already bought all the stuff, and it’s in the “freezes beautifully” section of my cookbook. I wanna take something that freezes beautifully.
Annelle never says what the cookbook is, but in my mind, if ever a cookbook was going to have a “freezes beautifully” section, it wouldn’t be one you pick up on the bestseller rack at Barnes & Noble. No, it would be one of those community cookbooks, recipes collected from the congregations of local churches, boosters for high school sports teams, historical or social clubs, like the Junior League or what not.
Because food that “freezes beautifully” is the realm of welcoming new life into the world, hospital stays, convalescence in the home and funerals. It’s not the food you find in cookbooks by Ina Garten and Bobby Flay.
Of course, the most precious of recipes are those handed down from one generation to the next, usually written in by the hands of mamaws, grandmothers and moms. I recently was sorting a box of my late mother’s cookbooks with my sister and found several of her community cookbooks. One that she used often was a Favorite Family Recipes from Fountain City United Methodist Church. It was a produced in 1975 for the 150th anniversary of the church’s founding (though the cover says Bicentennial Edition, the church turns 200 this year).
One of the lovely things about this recipe book is it includes a brief history of the church by congregant and former Central High School history teacher, Nannie Lee Hicks (see Dr. Jim Tumblin’s story here). Plus every recipe (no matter how many variations on pound cake, brownies, macaroni and cheese, baked spaghetti, chicken and/or tuna casserole) is accompanied by the name of the contributor. It’s a culinary journey through community and history.
The history component is one of the many reasons my KnoxTNToday colleague Jan Loveday Dickens collects so many of them. She said “don’t judge me,” but who would? Though hard to pick a favorite one is Kodak Centennial Historical Cookbook which was published in 1992. She said it wasn’t just the recipes, the family names (many relevant to the East Knox County communities she covers for KTT, but the historical tidbits about Kodak included in the book.
A selection from Jan Loveday Dickens’ collection.
My stepsister, Cathy Underwood, who lives in New Mexico, has shed much of her cookbook collection, but that same one from Kodak is one she holds on to for the same reasons. There is long Underwood history in Kodak and East Knox County, and she noted “a few relatives” and “lots of family names” in it.
That same connection to home is one reason Fountain City native and Central High graduate Laree Hensley, an attorney in Charleston, South Carolina, has such a broad collection of community cookbooks, from home here and there, and her travels. A favorite is from Central Baptist Church of Fountain City, Recipes and Remembrances: A 90th Anniversary Collection. She said it’s a favorite because it includes recipes from folks she knows plus the amusing entry of ingredients for how to remove skunk odors from dogs.
Tracy Haun Owens’ chershed cookbook with a photo of her grandfather.
Fellow local writer Tracy Haun Owens especially cherishes one from her grandparents’ church, First Baptist Church of Bluegrass, formerly Jones Chapel. As a child, she accompanied her grandfather as he lay the masonry for the current church on Ebeneezer Road near Northshore. She noted the book includes her great aunt Mattie’s famous caramel icing.
One cookbook that Owens covets is probably the Holy Grail of Knoxville area cookbooks. It’s the Mary Starr cookbook, Starr Recipes. Though not a church or other type of fundraising proposition, Starr had her Homemaker Show on WATE-6 from 1953-1971. The book featured recipes from her show. Owens noted they sell online for around $100.
Two of the people I discussed cookbooks with have them. Dickens has one, a gift from her mother. A lifelong friend and Central classmate, Laura Hodges Bowles, also has a copy:
It was my grandmother’s and one of my favorite treasures. I love that I can tell the recipes she made frequently because of the stains on the pages. My favorite recipe is probably the Coconut Chess Pie. I can remember her making it.
The Holy Grail of Knoxville cookbooks, Starr Recipes, belonging to Laura Hodges Bowles.
Many of these were passed down from much loved family, now gone. Which is why we hold them dear. It’s in the pages they touched, the food they prepared for us: one grandmother’s jam cake with caramel icing, the other’s boiled egg custard at Christmas. What are the ones that you treasure, and do you have a favorite recipe or local cookbook you’re looking for, from a fundraiser or long-gone restaurant?
Beth Kinnane writes a history feature for KnoxTNToday.com. It’s published each Tuesday and is one of our best-read features.
My grandmother’s recipe for apple pie and my grandfather’s recipe (yep, he cooked) for Thanksgiving turkey dressing are among the treasured recipes I still have and use. Thank you, Beth for giving me nostalgic read and reminder of my Fountain City roots. The people, churches, times you mentioned triggered many good memories for which I am grateful. I wish all of today’s children, grandchildren could enjoy the same sort of safe and companionable childhood our generations of Fountain City youth enjoyed.
Beth, would you please email me in private concerning this article. Thank you.
I have cookbooks from places where we have lived, MS Prairie, MS Delta, WV, South FL, NM, FL Panhandle and my hometown, Knoxville. You are right, it isn’t just the recipes, it’s the memories associated with the towns and those that contributed the recipes. Several years back, I took my Mom’s recipes, some in her handwriting, copied & retyped and made a “notebook” of “Mamaw’s Favorite Recipes” for our son. It gets used! Thank you Beth for another great memory.