Overview

Miss Juanita, now approaching 98 years of age, first moved to the Mississippi Delta with her family during the late 1930s after her father's two department stores in Tupelo disappeared almost overnight--one was burned to the ground by an arsonist, the other was robbed by criminals in large trucks who cleaned out the merchandise late one night. The granddaughter of one of the framers of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 and the cousin to a member of the House of Representatives, Hilton Waits of Leland, who also served as speaker pro tem, she survived the loss of her first husband, James L. Dickerson, who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II but was killed in a boating accident in the 1950s, and raised two children as a single mother--the daughter ending up teaching nursing and the son ending up working for some of the South's best newspapers and writing more than 30 books--only to later survive the cancer death of her second husband, Dick Caldwell, a retired World War II U.S. Army captain and businessman .... all the time collecting recipes for meals that were prepared while living daily life in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. This remarkable collection of over 100 recipes serves as a culinary documentary representing more than 80 years of preparing and enjoying the unique cuisine of the Mississippi Delta, a unique place both geographically and culturally. Some of the recipes in the book, such as the one for Thanksgiving and Christmas cornbread dressing, and the one for chicken 'n' Dumplin's, date back to the 1930s, while others such as the ones for Tamale Pie and Amalgamation Cake emerged in the 1950s. For those who walk on the wild side there are recipes for Squirrel Dumplin's, Wild Dove, and marinated venison. For those with a sweet tooth, there is a recipe for Miss Juanita's most popular desert, Frozen French Pastry, along with recipes for banana pudding, her incredible caramel pie, chocolate cake, light-as-air Meringue Kisses, Date Nut Cake, Southern Lemon Icebox Pie, and Toasted Coconut Pie. Reading the book offers a culinary walk through Mississippi Delta history.

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9781941644560

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Serving as more than the story of a single woman and her culinary adventures, [this book] is also the tale of a specific group of people in a particular place in time. Perusing through the pages of this book, I have developed a greater appreciation for people trying to make a living and raise families in areas such as the Mississippi Delta, the hardships they faced, and the things that they did to get by and make life worth living. Yes, food is one of those things, but things like faith and family play a key role, too. Miss Juanita is representative of many women of her era, and a kind of soul that will never die. Miss Juanita's favorite caramel pie is now my favorite as well, and, in that regard, a little piece of the Delta will live on. --Kristen M. Hillman, The New Orleans Review of Books

Author Information

Miss Juanita Caldwell, who is approaching 100 years of age, has lived in Mississippi her entire life. This is her first book.

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