Historic Cookbooks: An Exploration by Sewanee HIST 238

This cookbook was complied by the Plains Junior Women’s Club following the election of former President Jimmy Carter in 1976. This cook book was written to showcase the “best taste in Plains.” Plains has a population of under 500 people during the 1970’s. The town gained a lot of media coverage following the election of Jimmy Carter. With that media gained, the women of Plains, GA took the opportunity to showcase their community and the idea of Plains “goober” (peanuts). With the size of the town, there are hand drawn advertisements in the book of the book that highlight all of the local businesses that include Billy Beer, Jimmy’s brother’s distillery. Kaye Morris is the illustrator of the cookbook while being a member of the Jr. Women’s club, her illustrations include the cover page as well as the ads for local Plains businesses. The purpose of the ads was to hopefully bring more business to Plains from the cookbook highlighting them. The cookbook consists of over 200 recipes all turned in from the members, and including a section specifically from the Carter family. All of these recipes come from Plains and a few of the surrounding towns, such as Americus, but all focus on the idea of south Georgia cooking. The recipes are divided into nine different groupings ranging from “Appetizers, Pickle, Relishes” to a section devoted to “Peanuts.” Flipping through the cookbook one will quickly realize that after the introduction pages all of the recipes are handwritten with the Lady’s name under the recipe. The Carter family section promotes recipes that all the Carter women find near and dear to their heart, including Amy Carter, who was just nine years old, submitted her “Daisy Salad” recipe, which was a very sugar sweet fruit salad. The recipes pay tribute to more commonly eaten foods in the south during the later part of the 20th century. The big focus on peanuts is due to the vast amount of peanut farms surrounding Plains, GA. The peanut recipes range anywhere from “Peanut Bark” to “Peanut Butter BBQ Sauce.” The focus on peanuts and the Carter family helped bring this book success rather than just being a cookbook from a small unheard of town.

This was the only edition of the cookbook, but was one of many cookbooks coming out of Plains, GA following the election of Jimmy Carter. This cook book has been in my family since following the election due to my dad’s work for his campaign. Growing up, I have been able to travel with the Carter’s over the summer and develop friendships with their relatives. The Carter Family, and Jimmy Carter himself have played a major role in my life whether it be from a teaching perspective to teaching me how to make “Daisy Salad”. We tend to pull out this cookbook a few times a year to find a new and interesting recipes to make that showcases cuisine from South Georgia in our Virginia Home. A few of my favorites are: Lemon Pie, Whiskey Cake, Shrimp Jubalai, Homemade Peanut Butter, and my personal favorite “Plains Special” Cheese Ring.