"Edited by Brett Anderson, the food critic at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Cornbread Nation 6 collects the best in southern food writing from the previous two years, with a few classic or rediscovered pieces included. The essays are organized in six chapters: "Menu Items," which is the first and longest section; "Messing with Mother Nature," which looks at the relationship between food and the environment; "Southern Characters," which includes personality pieces; "Southern Drinkways"; "Identity in Motion," which examines change in the southern food world; and "The Global South," which includes some essays that came out of last year's SFA symposium. Anderson collects a who's who of food writing--nationally prominent names like Molly O'Neill, Calvin Trillin, Michael Pollan, Kim Severson and Martha Foose to SFA perennials John T. Edge, Jessica Harris, Bill Addison, Matt & Ted Lee and Lolis Eric Elie. Two classic pieces include Frederic Douglass' "Blood-Bought Luxuries," written in the 1830s and reprintedlast year in Lapham's Quarterly, and Edward Behr's profile of Eula Mae Dore, who died in 2008. Notable essays include Paul Greenberg's "Reconsidering the Oyster"; "Wendell Berry's Wisdom" by Michael Pollan; "Home Grown" (about Chef Sean Brock) by Jane Black; "I Was a Texas Rib Ranger" by Brett Martin; Besha Rodell's "An Open Letter to Kim Severson"; Calvin Trillin's "No Daily Specials"; and "Putting Food on the Family" by Jack Hitt. The book includes one photo essay by David Grunfeld documenting the Collins Oyster Family"-- Read Less