Northwest Ohio Foodways

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.

Eighteenth-century French philosopher Brillat-Savarin recognized that our food choices and traditions are windows into our regional culture, history, and memories, but how? Through FOODWAYS. Foodways looks at the activities surrounding eating. By examining these activities more closely, we can get a better understanding of our identity.

Foods associated with Northwest Ohio, such as corn, sauerkraut, applebutter, noodles, green bean casserole, and buckeye candies might not seem interesting at first glance. However, when we realize how these foods reflect our history and memories, we then recognize their cultural, as well as emotional, significance.

Foods can also be symbolic of place. In Northwest Ohio, the pork-a-lean, a pork patty resembling a hamburger, represents the area’s pork farms and local butchers. Foods can become personally meaningful through the activities surrounding them, such as baking cookies with your grandmother or preparing a holiday meal as a family. Individuals can express personal tastes through variations on standard recipes. Food often reminds us of people and our past.

This website, and corresponding exhibit, explore the different aspects of Northwest Ohio Foodways.
We hope it gives you a new appreciation of your own foodways traditions.

“Northwest Ohio Foodways Traditions” exhibit was made possible by a grant from the Partnerships for Community Action at Bowling Green State University. Countless hours of research and development were completed by university students under the direction of Dr. Lucy Long of BGSU and Christie Raber, Kelli Kling, and Randy Brown of the Wood County Historical Center & Museum. The exhibit and website were developed as companion materials to the Smithsonian’s “Key Ingredients: America by Food,” which was on display at the Historical Museum in May/June 2007. Funding for Key Ingredients was provided in part by the Ohio Humanities Council.

NWOH FOODWAYS

Introduction

About NWOH

Place-based Foods

Sweet Foodways

CHANGING FOODWAYS

Native Americans & Pioneers

Commercial Foodways

Living Off the Land

ETHNIC FOODWAYS

Asian

Mexican

German

Hungarian

Lebanese

Swiss

TRADITIONS

Oral Histories

Recipes

Festive Foodways

SPONSORED BY

	Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are. Eighteenth-century French philosopher Brillat-Savarin recognized that our food choices and traditions are windows into our regional culture, history, and memories, but how? Through FOODWAYS. Foodways looks at the activities surrounding eating. By examining these activities more closely, we can get a better understanding of our identity. Foods associated with Northwest Ohio, such as corn, sauerkraut, applebutter, noodles, green bean casserole, and buckeye candies might not seem interesting at first glance. However, when we realize how these foods reflect our history and memories, we then recognize their cultural, as well as emotional, significance. Foods can also be symbolic of place. In Northwest Ohio, the pork-a-lean, a pork patty resembling a hamburger, represents the area’s pork farms and local butchers. Foods can become personally meaningful through the activities surrounding them, such as baking cookies with your grandmother or preparing a holiday meal as a family. Individuals can express personal tastes through variations on standard recipes. Food often reminds us of people and our past. This website, and corresponding exhibit, explore the different aspects of Northwest Ohio Foodways. We hope it gives you a new appreciation of your own foodways traditions. “Northwest Ohio Foodways Traditions” exhibit was made possible by a grant from the Partnerships for Community Action at Bowling Green State University. Countless hours of research and development were completed by university students under the direction of Dr. Lucy Long of BGSU and Christie Raber, Kelli Kling, and Randy Brown of the Wood County Historical Center & Museum. The exhibit and website were developed as companion materials to the Smithsonian’s “Key Ingredients: America by Food,” which was on display at the Historical Museum in May/June 2007. Funding for Key Ingredients was provided in part by the Ohio Humanities Council.


NWOH FOODWAYS Introduction About NWOH Place-based Foods Sweet Foodways	CHANGING FOODWAYS Native Americans & Pioneers Commercial Foodways Living Off the Land	ETHNIC FOODWAYS Asian Mexican German Hungarian Lebanese Swiss	TRADITIONS Oral Histories Recipes Festive Foodways
SPONSORED BY