Whenever a new book of food history is announced, my ears perk up. It’s like a sense: I know when an author bestows a culinary gift onto the publishing world and, in turn, a publisher smiles on consumers … Well, that might be a little dramatic, but I am always on the lookout for great foodie nonfiction, and this week I’ve found a new title focused on one of my favorite dishes with a history that rivals its heat. I cannot wait to read it.
Today I’m waiting for…
From the publisher:
These days, hot chicken is a “must-try” Southern food. Restaurants in New York, Detroit, Cambridge, and even Australia advertise that they fry their chicken “Nashville-style.” Thousands of people attend the Music City Hot Chicken Festival each year. The James Beard Foundation has given Prince’s Chicken Shack an American Classic Award for inventing the dish.
But for almost seventy years, hot chicken was made and sold primarily in Nashville’s Black neighborhoods—and the story of hot chicken says something powerful about race relations in Nashville, especially as the city tries to figure out what it will be in the future.
Hot, Hot Chicken recounts the history of Nashville’s Black communities through the story of its hot chicken scene from the Civil War, when Nashville became a segregated city, through the tornado that ripped through North Nashville in March 2020.
Title: Hot, Hot Chicken: A Nashville Story
Author: Rachel Louise Martin
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
Expected Publication: March 15, 2021
Classification: Food, Nonfiction
Note: Can’t Wait Wednesday is a feature hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, so be sure to check out her weekly post to find other participants. Fair warning: don’t be surprised if you come away with an expanded TBR pile.
Since I love the dish, I now want to read this! Thanks for introducing me to this book.
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Hope you enjoy it! I’ve been craving hot chicken since I read the blurb.
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There isn’t a Hot chicken place in Cincy that I can find but my adult son and I LOVE these. Make sure you open a window and use the fan https://masonfit.com/nashville-hot-chicken-burgers/
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This looks fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing! I’ve always been hesitant to even attempt my own version of hot chicken, but I’m definitely trying this.
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Enjoy–just DO use the fan/open the window.
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This sounds really interesting Christopher. I never thought about learning the history of a city through it’s signature dish.
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Culinary history is one of my favorite genres, but this is maybe the first I’ve seen that focuses on one dish and one geographic area. Really looking forward to seeing how it works.
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I love to cook but have never really gotten into the history of food. I think I would probably enjoy it if I gave it a try.
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I hope you will review this one! I’m from Tennessee–went to college in Nashville before hot chicken was “hot!”
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I didn’t know that! How fun—and what a great connection to one of the best dishes perfected in the U.S. This was available as a download on Edelweiss for me, so I’m looking forward to diving in and reviewing it sometime soon.
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Now if this was written by a black author, it would have been really cool. Still sounds very good though.
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Fingers crossed it’s as good as it sounds!
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