Culinary History of Missouri, A: Foodways & Iconic Dishes of the Show-Me State

Book excerpt: Missouri's history is best told through food, from its Native American and later French colonial roots to the country's first viticultural area. Learn about the state's vibrant barbecue culture, which stems from African American cooks, including Henry Perry, Kansas City's barbecue king. Trace the evolution of iconic dishes such as Kansas City burnt ends, St. Louis gooey butter cake and Springfield cashew chicken. Discover how hardscrabble Ozark farmers launched a tomato canning industry and how a financially strapped widow, Irma Rombauer, would forever change how cookbooks were written. Historian and culinary writer Suzanne Corbett and food and travel writer Deborah Reinhardt also include more than eighty historical recipes to capture a taste of Missouri's history that spans more than two hundred years.