Roots and Recipes: Six Generations of Heartland Cookery

By Connie Heckert and Vern Berry

While Vern Berry was moving with her husband and family to Colorado in 1927, she thought of her ancestors on their pioneer journey from Kentucky to settle in the Heartland-Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. The image of each woman doing her best to keep her family well fed and healthy in a pleasant home inspired her. Many years later, Vern, with the help of coauthor Connie Heckert, has compiled a wonderful collection of family recipes and history, the story of how those six generations lived and cooked in the Midwest.

Roots and Recipes: Six Generations of Heartland Cookery begins with poignant narratives of the way each couple met, married, and lived their daily lives, often under hardship. These stories verge on romances, so tender and loving are their accounts. And the details make it easy to visualize the past through this family's eyes.

Sample menus from several generations are included, allowing the reader to see just what kind of dishes would have been prepared daily. And a wide variety of foods is covered, including old-time dishes such as Spoon Bread, Chicken and Dumplings, and Custard Pie as well as the less traditional Salmon Soup, Ham Strata, and Cranberry Candle Salad.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565540417
• ISBN13: 9781565540415
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Great Old Recipes

This is a really great book. It is a mixture of old stories and pictures from at least six generations. There are old photos and recipes that bring back memories for me. The recipes are so simple and it is just fun to sit down with and read. I display it for everyone to see.

A Wonderful Book

This is an excellant cookbook, full of delicious recipes. I may have a vested interest in this, since it was written by by my great-grandmother, but she is one of the best cooks I've ever known. She's won several awards for her recipes. While probably not as interesting for non-family members, I was quite thrilled that a part of my family history has been documented as well.