There Was No American Regional Cuisine Until One 'Virginia Housewife' Thought to Compile a Diverse Collection of Recipes

Article excerpt

Mary Randolph's 1824 cookbook, "The Virginia Housewife," didn't merely document Southern cooking, it invented the very concept of American regional cuisine. An in-law of the Jefferson family, Randolph synthesized recipes from enslaved cooks and European immigrant traditions into a coherent culinary identity. Her work established what we now recognize as Southern food, transforming scattered household recipes into a defined regional cuisine that would shape American eating for generations.