The Virginia House-wife, updated edition

"An incredible snapshot of dining and Southern life before the Civil War."—Debra Freeman, from the foreword

"To mark the bicentennial of the publication of Mary Randolph's The Virginia Housewife, the University of South Carolina press has issued a new edition of Karen Hess's authoritative collated text of the first three editions. The founding book of southern cookery (the first to mingle African American, Native, and European dishes), it reflected both the taste of Thomas Jefferson, with whom Randolph had a familial connection, and that of the Virginia public whom Randolph served as a boardinghouse keeper. The first classic of American regional cookery."—David S. Shields, coauthor of The Ark of Taste: Delicious and Distinctive Foods That Define the United States and Taste the State: South Carolina's Signature Foods, Recipes & Their Stories

"For those interested in history and cooking, [. . .] one of the earliest cookbooks written by an American about the food of this country."—Southern Living