Because our classic Mississippi Moments episode this week is about Greek cooking and holiday traditions, we thought we'd ask USM Historian Andrew Haley to discuss his field of study and give an opinion as to how Mediterranean culture and cuisine has influenced our food ways. 

Dr. Haley studies class, culture and cuisine in the United States from the Gilded Age through the 1950s. His first book, Turning the Tables: American Restaurant Culture and the Rise of the Middle Class, 1880-1920, is the winner of the 2012 James Beard Award for Scholarship and Reference.

Haley has conducted an in-depth study of Mississippi community cookbooks exploring such cultural aspects of these historic artifacts as immigrant integration, civic engagement, and the empowerment of women through shared recipes.

We then revisit a classic episode from December 2015 with Kris Gianakos discussing Greek Cooking and the holidays.

'Tis the season for home cooking and today's episode provides a heaping plateful! Jennifer Brannock, Professor and Curator of Rare Books and Mississippiana here at USM takes us on a tour of their massive community cookbook collection. It is a fun and informative discussion on how the project came into being and why the history of food is so important to understanding our culture. Delve into our online collection of rare community cookbooks by following this link: https://www.digitalcollections.usm.edu/mississippiana-and-rare-books

Jennifer's interview is followed by a classic MSMO episode from December 2015, with New Orleans chef Marcelle Bienvenu discussing the history of Cajun cooking and the impact Chef Paul Prudhomme had on Louisiana foodways.