While new, fancy cookbooks with shiny pages and full-color photography remain ensconced on the living room shelves, those old wire- or plastic-combed collections remain closer at hand, at the edge of the counter or in a handy hutch. Their covers are often plainly decorated by someone associated with the book, or a duplicate of other covers offered by one of several fundraising printer companies that served the middle United States over the course of the middle and later 20th century.

Church and community cookbooks have become part of our local culture. Every small town has a sampling, usually from whatever congregations were nearby. They were put together to raise money for functions or buildings and they were bestsellers, in that everyone in town ended up with one. When it wasn’t a church, it was a school or a club or a gathering of friends who put together these tomes that were quick and easy to get printed and which were all but eternal.

Stories in the Recipes

You can tell by some of the entries in these books who the movers and the shakers were. Some cookbooks had a single entry from each person who contributed, but more often there would be one or two superstars that would stand out, proud of their cooking and happy to share. Or, like when my own mom put together Cornerstone Cookery, published by the St. Vincent’s Infirmary Employee Council in 1984, about a third of the recipes ended up coming from my own family when submissions were scarce.

What each and every one of these books did, though, was capture a moment in space and time in a way few other objects could. In an age before the internet, these volumes catalogued the food we all ate from day to day. The more extravagant recipes, usually for desserts or highly regarded holiday entrees, showed what we ate when we were celebrating. The more humble recipes, with their creative instructions on how to assemble a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or what to do while you’re waiting for something to cook, show us humor and the good nature of the people sharing the recipes they know.

Flavors from the Past

In-between, you get a capsule of history particular to the congregation or area in question, the dishes that are most likely to have been served at the table, the things that one generation didn’t want the next generation to forget. Some of those dishes, like the regional Arkansas dish known as Tallerine (usually pronounced TA-lur-EE-nee), all but evaporated by the end of the 20th century. The ground beef and noodles entree usually contained black olives and cheese, along with some sort of additional ingredient, which included everything from small green peas to green bell pepper, diced onions or even sliced tomatoes. It appeared to be a precursor to the commercial Hamburger Helper, and while prevalent under a host of different spellings in mid-century Arkansas cookbooks, all but disappeared by the mid- to late-1980s. 

There were also concoctions, usually salads or side dishes, that were popular back then but would be undesired today, like congealed salads with a base of Jell-O or any variety of pea-and-mayo mixes. Items utilizing SPAM can still be found in cookbooks today, but canned brothers Vienna Sausages and potted meat are frowned upon and excluded in 21st century collections. For young homemakers looking for ways to change up meals in an age when canned foods were on the shelves at their local grocery while convenience foods like TV dinners and frozen pizzas were not, combining what was easily available to create something that stood out was paramount.

A Taste of Arkansas History

Over the past several years, I have been collecting a variety of Arkansas cookbooks, finding them at thrift stores and in the bins at Goodwill, receiving them from families who are rehoming them when loved ones pass, and taking in duplicates from libraries with multiple copies. In my spare time and on days when the weather is too angry to travel, I sit down and read through them, noting common elements to time and regions.

In 2021, I published a cookbook based on these Arkansas community collections, Arkansas Cookery: Retro Recipes from The Natural State. In its 103 recipes gathered from cookbooks from between 1935 and 1985, I hoped to offer a picture of cooking in mid-century Arkansas, what people were eating at home. These were most of the 107 recipes I’d culled from some of those many cookbooks, showcasing recipes that I found through the era. I took them with me to the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, and over the course of 12 days recreated them, redacting recipes with modern equivalents (for instance, noting that the tabs of cream cheese available in the 1950s was three ounces, compared to the 8 ounce block offered today) and photographing them for posterity.

Some items, such as Green Rice, are very popular even today with home cooks in the Arkansas Delta. Others, like Salmon Croquettes and Tomato Aspic, are very rarely seen today. And then there are things like Guacamole Salad, Hush Puppies, and Fried Zucchini that are known worldwide today.

When I research these recipes, I tend to stop at the year 2000. It’s a nice, even point to cut from, and a moment in time when the internet was just really becoming ubiquitous in homes around the world. The combination of the World Wide Web, retailers like Amazon and Walmart, and the sudden availability to anyone, anywhere foodstuffs that had previously been hard to find – like ube sweet potatoes from Japan or besan flour from India – changed our food culture irreversibly, almost overnight. I plan to continue the research and create more compilations as I learn more and open up these veritable time capsules of Arkansas food.

Date Nut Bread

Folks here in Arkansas, particularly in rural communities, would have access to certain foods certain times of the year. When it came to nuts, what you had stored back was usually reliant on what was available close by. The nuts in this recipe could be pecans, walnuts, or hickory nuts. Dates would come dried, like raisins and prunes (dried plums), and could be stored for a long time. Everything in this recipe from Mrs. Jewell Teater, originally printed in a 1954 cookbook by the Women’s Society of Christian Service at Asbury Methodist Church in Little Rock, could conceivably be in the pantry or fridge, ready to whip up – and let me tell you what, it was certainly a wonderful thing to enjoy, with an almost chocolatey consistency and a soft mouthfeel. I love this best the next day, sliced and toasted with butter – and yes, I substitute butter for the margarine.

Green Pea Salad

While it’s not much to look at, this green pea salad was common at gatherings in rural Arkansas when I was a kid in the 1970s. This version appears in Favorite Recipes from Clay County Kitchens (second printing, 1955) and is attributed to Mrs. Otto Elsass, who was part of the Glaub Lone Holly chapter of the Clay County Council of Homemaker Demonstration Clubs.

Kat Robinson is Arkansas’s original culinary traveler, with three PBS programs, thousands of articles, and 13 books on food in The Natural State to her credit. The Emmy-nominated documentary host and food historian is currently working on a history of Arkansas barbecue.

Follow Kat: Facebook | Instagram | www.TieDyeTravels.com

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“My name is Hallie Shoffner. I’m a sixth generation farmer from Newport, Arkansas. I grew up farming alongside my parents, and for the last ten years I’ve been primary operator of 2,000 acres of soybeans, corn, rice, and wheat.

I should say that I used to be a sixth generation farmer. In February, we made the decision to close our farm. We joined many other farm families making the heartbreaking choice to avoid significant financial hardship before it was too late. 

Many more families will face similar hard choices this month. 

You see, the ag economy is the worst it’s been since the farm crisis of the 1980s when the U.S. lost 300,000 family farms. The price we are paid for our crop is so low and the cost to produce our crop is so high that no commodity crop in the state will be profitable this year. 

Because agriculture is a big economic driver and food production is a national security issue, the government steps in to help farmers in tough times like these. They do this with a piece of legislation called the Farm Bill. It’s updated and re-passed every five years. We are now in the second year of an extension of the previous Farm Bill which is, itself, based on benchmark numbers from 2012. 

It is useless to us. Our own Senator Boozman is head of the Agriculture Committee in the Senate. Before that, he was the ranking member. He has been promising a new farm bill for years, and it hasn’t come. We understand it will not come this year. Adding insult to injury, critical funding for soil health programs, land management, and infrastructure development for farmers has been frozen. Sights have been set on key employees of the USDA, the NRCS, and FSA.

You can tell the ag economy is bad by the number of liquidation auctions posted. 

When a farm goes out of business, an auction company lines up the equipment, takes photos, and sells it online to the highest bidder. There have been so many more this spring than in previous years.

Our’s was last week. Yesterday, I watched as strangers hauled away my tillage equipment, drove away my tractors and combines, loaded my power units and fuel tanks on trailers, and carried away the tools in my shop. Today, as I stand here, people are picking up the last pieces of six generations of farming while the people we elected to protect us eat in a ballroom at $7,000 a plate. 

I don’t care whether you have an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ next to your name. I have no use for politicians who play dress up in cowboy boots, claim to care about farmers, and do nothing in our darkest hour.”

Left to Right: Hallie’s mom and dad, John and Wendy Shoffner in their early farm days. A young Hallie in a cotton field on her family’s farm. In 2017, the Shoffner family farm was honored by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture as an “Arkansas Century Farm,” a recognition reserved for families who have owned and farmed the same land for at least 100 years.

Hallie Shoffner is a farmer, advocate, and champion for rural communities. Raised on a family farm, she’s worked with NGOs in India, Peru, and the Amazon, led nonprofits, and regenerative farming efforts, and serves on the Arkansas Foodbank board. As founder of Delta Harvest, she fights for stronger rural economies, family farms, and local food systems. After graduating from Newport High School, Hallie earned a liberal arts degree from Vanderbilt University on a full-tuition Robert Harvest Scholarship and later obtained a Master of Public Service from the University of Arkansas Little Rock Clinton School of Public Service. She also studied at the Universidad de Complutense in Madrid, Spain, furthering her global perspective on public service and rural development.

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You can see it throughout the state in soybean fields, chicken houses, and cattle herds. Approaching more populated areas, agricultural scenery slowly gives way to development. However, even in the urban centers no one is very far removed from agriculture.

For every $7 in the state economy, $1 comes from agriculture. 

Agriculture stands as Arkansas’ largest industry, contributing approximately $20.9 billion annually to the state’s economy. The state is a leading exporter of rice, soybeans, cotton, poultry, and feed grains. Arkansas farmers proclaim with pride such attributes as Arkansas County being the top rice-producing county in the USA, or Lonoke County exporting more baitfish than any nation worldwide. In 2022, agriculture provided 242,487 jobs, with wages amounting to $10,912 million, representing 12.6% of the state’s total. Value-added processing of agricultural products generated $24,341 million, and labor income accounted for $13,295 million. Remarkably, Arkansas is among the few states where average per capita farm income surpasses non-farm per capita income (Miller & Wheeler, 2021).

Agriculture is not merely an industry; it is the cornerstone of life in Arkansas.

The onset of agriculture marked the beginning of civilization, when humanity transitioned from nomadic lifestyles to settled agricultural practices. According to archaeologists and anthropologists, this fostered stability, enabling communities to organize, develop, and grow. Historically, family farms constituted the predominant organizational structure of agriculture. However, with the advent of the industrial revolution, a shift towards efficiency led to the adoption of an industrial model in agriculture. The emphasis on increased yield prioritized financial value as the primary consideration.

Arkansas agriculture is among the most productive and efficient systems in the world; However, Arkansas farmers and ranchers recognize the multifaceted value generated by agriculture, encompassing economic, cultural, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Much of Arkansas’ agricultural practices are rooted in culture and tradition. Many cattle producers continue the legacy of their predecessors, maintaining practices because “that’s what Daddy did.”

Local sale barns and old-fashioned coffee shops where farmers gather support economic activity and also reinforces social cohesion. Conversations about cattle prices or harvest conditions serve as community-building interactions. Farmers’ markets offer quality homegrown produce alongside opportunities for social engagement. Local farmers participate in gleaning programs or raise money to address local food insecurity (Boles, 2023). 

Agriculture in Arkansas provides cultural stability and interconnectedness that can evolve into strength and security.

Arkansas is characterized by its family farming operations, with 49,346 farms statewide, 97 percent of which are family farms (Miller & Wheeler, 2021). Family farms are defined by their organizational structure rather than size (Francis, 1994). Some of the largest farms in Arkansas operate under family ownership. The state’s diverse agricultural landscape is shaped by geography: river bottoms and delta regions are ideal for row crops, rocky terrain supports cattle pastures, and rolling hills are suitable for orchards and fruit production. The cultural fabric of rural Arkansas varies by location, influenced by local agricultural practices. For instance, plantation culture in East Arkansas differs significantly from cattle farming in North Arkansas, poultry production in Northwest Arkansas, or the piney woods of South Arkansas. Order a steak in Stuttgart and more than likely it will come with a side of rice instead of potatoes. Research (Boles, 2023) has shown that local attitudes and definitions of dignity vary across different parts of Arkansas, highlighting the influence of local agricultural cultures. 

Agriculture in Arkansas provides cultural stability and interconnectedness that can evolve into strength and security. Years ago, I heard a story that remains relevant today, a story about Earl Butz, the secretary of agriculture under Jimmy Carter. One time, he had the opportunity to tour a nuclear submarine. Secretary Butz asked the admiral hosting the tour, “This submarine is a nuclear sub, without the need to refuel. It produces its own oxygen. It produces its own water. How long can you stay down?” The admiral replied,  “I can’t believe the secretary of agriculture asked me that. We can stay down until we run out of food.” Food is our limiting factor, and agriculture provides that food. Agriculture in Arkansas contributes not only sustenance but also economic prosperity, cultural identity, and social cohesion. It forms the cultural through-line across the state, shaping the atmosphere and reality of life in Arkansas.

Dr. Jack Boles began his career with the UA Cooperative Extension Service in 1987 where he served in a variety of positions, from County Extension Agent in Independence, Arkansas and Newton counties to serving as the Environmental Management Specialist for agricultural issues. He retired with Emeritus status from Extension in 2013 and served as Executive Director for the State 4-H Foundation. 

After retirement, Jack went back to school and received his doctorate in Interdisciplinary Leadership from the University of Central Arkansas. His research interest in leadership and food security is based on his experiences as a county agent in Arkansas and as a volunteer livestock specialist in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia. Jack is an advocate for food security, small farms and local farmers; and along with his wife Lisa, works to promote peaceful communities through their organization The Dove’s Nest Project.   

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