About Cucina di Madre Terra

Exploring Southern Cuisine: A Journey Through Local Sourcing and Ancestral Food Heritage in the American South

People today are more concerned than ever about where their food is grown and that it is grown in a good manner. Eating locally sourced food has become a popular trend recently as more people are attending farmers markets, co-ops, and health food stores than ever before.

This has renewed interest in our ancestral food heritage where self-sufficiency and local sourcing was the primary source of sustenance and nutrition. The South’s cuisine in the United States is located in the historical regional culinary form of states generally south of the Mason–Dixon line dividing Pennsylvania and Delaware from Maryland as well as along the Ohio River and extending west to southern Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

The most notable influences on Southern cuisine are African, English, Scottish, Irish, German, French and Native American.

The food of the American South reflects a unique blend of cultures and culinary traditions. The Native Americans, Spanish, French and British all contributed to the development of Southern food as they brought recipes and dishes from their own cultures. Transplanted Africans brought to the South through slavery also brought things to Southern cuisine.

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Farm-to-Fork Restaurant Certification Program