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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1997-11 > 0880901417


From: "Eunice B. Kirkman" <>
Subject: Re: Scotch-Irish Diet
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 09:50:17 -0500


>My grandfather smoked all his own meat, raised bees for
>honey, milked his cow and plowed fields on rocky steep hillsides. Does
>this kind of food come from any Scotch-Irish influence?

My ancestors came into the Blue Ridge mountains in the early 1700s. Whether
they brought the custom with them from Ireland, Scotland, France, or
wherever, it still prevails. I have neighbors who raise and cure their own
meat, raise bees, milk their own cows, etc. My grandparents raised their
own vegetables, grew, harvested, and ground their own corn(this from Native
Amercians). They raised cane and made molasses in the fall. They ate well
most of the time and managed to raise healthy children. Most dieticians
will agree that their food was far more healthy than that we eat today.

Whne my sons come home for a visit, they always ask for corn bread,
greens(either turnip or mustard), pinto beans, and buttermilk. We're still
"hillbilly" and likely to remain so.

Eunice B. Kirkman --------
-=| Virginia - The cradle of the nation |=-

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