Food and Culture in Appalachian Kentucky: An Ethnography

Abstract

Using interviews with 21 Appalachian Kentucky residents and out-migrants, this paper examines the ways in which food plays a central role in constructing, maintaining, and transforming a sense of regional identity. In contrast to much work on Appalachia, the participants in this study suggest that, while their regionality is important, they participate in larger cultural productions and find ways to incorporate both the familiar ways and mass food culture into understandings of what it means to be Appalachian.