Myths and Folklore: Folk Cookery and Foodways

A shift in the 1960s toward exploring the processes and contexts surrounding food was represented in scholarship on folk cookery, “traditional domestic cookery marked by regional variation.” Folklorist Don Yoder developed the study of folk cookery, drawing from European ethnology, which involved detailed observation of all aspects of peasant life. Yoder introduced the term “foodways” into folklore scholarship to refer to “the total cookery complex, including attitudes, taboos, and meal systems—the whole range of cookery and food habits in a society.” Folklorists developed the foodways model further, using it to refer to the extended network of activities and conceptualizations surrounding the procurement, preservation, preparation, presentation, performance, and consumption of food. This model also involves the beliefs, aesthetics, economics, and politics involved in food behaviors.