Supper in the Ozarks: Mountain Cooking & Hard Times in the 1970s Harvest Book

What did supper really look like in the Ozarks during hard times?In the 1970s, tucked-away hollers and ridge-top farms across the Ozarks were holding on by their fingernails. Paychecks were small, work was seasonal, and yet there was nearly always something on the table at day’s end. Supper in the Ozarks: Mountain Cooking & Hard Times in the 1970s is both a cookbook and a quiet history lesson—an invitation into those kitchens, one pot of beans and skillet of cornbread at a time.Drawing on lived experience and the foodways of poor and working families, Wilma Foster shares 50 frugal, filling recipes built from beans, potatoes, garden vegetables, scraps of meat, and scratch baking—exactly the way meals were stretched in an economically struggling, often overlooked corner of America.Each recipe includes:Straightforward, no-fuss instructions using basic pantry ingredientsBudget-conscious “stretch the pot” techniques to make food go furtherA short historical note from the 1970s Ozarks instead of nutrition facts—explaining why people cooked this way and what it meant in day-to-day lifeInside you’ll find:Beans and skillet suppers that fed hungry families on mill, poultry plant, and factory wagesCornbread, biscuits, pancakes, and “poor folk” fillers that turned thin pots into real mealsGarden dishes—green beans cooked all afternoon, fried squash, turnip greens, okra, stewed tomatoes—that taste like a visit to someone’s back porchCold-weather pots, overnight baked beans, and dumplings for when the house and the money both ran coldDinner bucket and school lunch ideas that sustained workers and kids through long days with very little cashThis is not a glossy “country chic” cookbook. It’s a practical, story-rich guide for anyone who:Wants to understand how families survived on almost nothingLoves regional American food historyNeeds real-world ideas for stretching groceries, reducing food waste, and cooking from a bare pantryFeels pulled toward simple, honest meals that don’t apologize for beans, bread, and a saved jar of bacon greaseIf Great Depression-style cooking, poor folk meals, and old-school thrift speak to you, this book will feel like sitting at the kitchen table with an older relative who tells you the truth while she stirs the pot.Fans of frugal and historical cooking will also enjoy:Great Depression SuppersTrailer Park Comfort FoodThe Sardine Cookbook: Surprisingly Delicious Pantry MealsLow-Salt Soups & Stews Pull up a chair, open this book, and let the Ozarks of the 1970s show you how hard times cooking can still feed body, memory, and a stubborn kind of hope.