Contributed/Archives of Appalachia Instagram

 The Appalachian Foodway Series is a digital and physical collection that aims to connect Appalachian food to its cultural, social and economic roots. It helps people inside and outside the region understand how food is integral to Appalachian culture.

The first installment in the series, released in October 2025, is titled “Apple Butter.” Retha Darnell, from a small town in Virginia, comes from a family that has made apple butter for years, a tradition passed down through generations.

For Darnell, making apple butter is not simply a time for cooking. It is a time to connect with family members. The tradition began with homegrown apples, family horseback rides to pick them and family members working together to peel the apples.

“They were poor by dollar standards, growing up, raising 10 kids, but they were rich,” Darnell said. “They were rich in tradition; they were rich in that she was an excellent cook … it’s a blessing and it’s an art that we’re proud to keep carrying on.”

The series also highlights the Chinquapin Grove and Valley Forge United Methodist Church communities, based in Bluff City and Elizabethton, respectively. Both communities have refined the apple butter-making process over the years. The Valley Forge article also includes 29 photos and captions, giving the segment a nostalgic and personal feel.

In July 2026, the second installment, titled “Maple Syrup,” was released.

Sandy Laws, an archivist at ETSU, curated the exhibit to delve into the “‘why’ behind what we eat, exploring the historical and cultural significance of food as it relates to people and place.”

The segment also presents East Tennessee as a region for maple syrup production, which is often associated with New England. The historical section highlights the Indigenous origins of maple syrup production and demonstrates how the process has evolved over the years.

The Johnson City Maple Syrup Festival, hosted by Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site, occurs each February. It offers breakfast and tours of historic buildings on the property.

On Sept. 15, 2025, a collection on canning and preserving was released. Laws also curated this collection.

The collection chronicles food preservation before the development of modern canning and Mason jars and continues the discussion into the present day. It explores preservation methods including drying, freezing and pressure canning.

The processes of canning tomatoes, green beans, chow-chow and pumpkin butter are described in the collection. It ends with a song titled “I Was Raised on Beans and Taters.” Through photos, videos and personal testimonies, Laws highlights the role canning has played in Appalachian food traditions.

ETSU also offers an Appalachian Foodways course taught by Fred Sauceman. It is not a cooking course, nor does Sauceman write cookbooks. Instead, he aims to tell the stories behind the recipes, not simply illustrate how to prepare them.

 

     The Archives of Appalachia are publicly accessible and can be found at https://archivesofappalachia.omeka.net.  

Author