High country cooking fit to grace any table.

Southern Appalachia has a rich culinary tradition. Generations of passed down recipes offer glimpses into a culture that has long been defined, in considerable measure, by its food. Take a journey of pure delight through this highland homeland with stories of celebrations, Sunday dinners and ordinary suppers. The narrative material and scores of recipes offered here share a deep love of place and a devotion to this distinctive cuisine. The end result is a tempting invitation, in the vernacular of the region, to “pull up a chair and take nourishment.”

Authors Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley, both natives of the region, are seasoned veterans in sharing the culinary delights of the southern highlands.

Learn more about the Father of the Franchise Industry in this illuminating history about the Howard Johnson restaurant franchise and the man behind it all.

Howard Johnson created an orange-roofed empire of ice cream stands and restaurants that stretched from Maine to Florida, and all the way to the West Coast. With a reputation for good food at affordable prices, hungry customers would regularly return for more. The attractive white Colonial Revival restaurants, with eye-catching porcelain tile roofs, illuminated cupolas and sea blue shutters, were described in Reader's Digest in 1949 as the epitome of eating places that look like New England town meeting houses dressed up for Sunday. Highlighted in television shows such as Mad Men and films Netflix's 2019 The Irishman, it's obvious that Howard Johnson's occupies an indelible and pleasant place popular culture. Boston historian and author Anthony M. Sammarco recounts how Howard Johnson introduced twenty-eight flavors of ice cream, the Tendersweet clam strips, grilled frankforts and a menu of delicious and traditional foods that families eagerly enjoyed when they traveled.

Michigan is home to an amazing array of food and drink brands, each with a fascinating story behind it.

Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals like Kellogg’s and Post changed how the world eats, and Gerber first made baby food commercially available. But the Wolverine State is bursting with many other notable edibles, such as Faygo, American Spoon, Jiffy, Sanders and Vernors. Better Made uses Michigan potatoes for its chips. Fudge, pasties and anything made with cherries are also local standards. Others are gone but not forgotten, like Awrey’s and Twin Pines.

Authors Gail Offen and Jon Milan explore the history and stories behind all of these and many, many more.

Take a Bite of Philadelphia's Storied Sandwich History

Philadelphia boasts some of the most delicious original sandwiches and passionate sandwich aficionados. From the classic cheesesteak to the delectable roast pork, the city’s cultural and ethnic diversity has resulted in many of America’s most established meals between bread. Join author and bona fide sandwich obsessive Mike Madaio as he journeys through the history and eateries behind Philadelphia’s most iconic sandwiches and discovers some unsung heroes along the way.

Inspired by Florida's famed Mai-Kai restaurant, Bill Sapp and Lee Henry opened the Kahiki Supper Club in 1961. Patrons lined up for hours to see the celebrities who dined there--everyone from Betty White to Raymond Burr.

Sapp and Henry set out simply to build a nice Polynesian restaurant and ended up establishing the most magnificent one of them all. Outside, two giant Easter Island heads with flames spouting from their topknots stood guard while customers dined in a faux tribal village with thatched huts, palm trees and a towering fireplace moai. One wall featured aquariums of exotic fish and another had windows overlooking a tropical rainforest with periodic thunderstorms. For nearly forty years, the Kahiki was the undisputed center of tiki culture.

In the 1970s, there were around 450 local meat lockers throughout the state of Iowa. Today, there are little more than 100 left. History is finally back on their side with a wave of consumers wanting to support small businesses, shop small and buy local. Consumers now also have an increased urge to take more day trips and explore regions they don't see much in the headlines and bring these meats home for their own culinary creations. This is the story of heritage from the old country being passed down by generations of Iowans, and the future of an industry that has endured through decades of decline. Jay Goodvin details the history of Iowa Meat Lockers and their future.