The University of Arkansas Libraries’ special collections department is publishing Arkansauce: The Journal of Arkansas Foodways, that explores food history, customs and traditions in the Natural State. 

Journalist Rex Nelson, author of Southern Fried blog, is guest editor for the inaugural issue.

Arkansauce is a mix of popular and semi-scholarly articles illustrated with original documents, drawings and photographs. It focuses on food history, nutrition, cooking, customs, table manners, chefs, food producers and production, restaurants, cookbooks, recipes, menus for ordinary and special occasions, the culinary heritage of minority groups, immigrants, and specific geographic regions of Arkansas, food-related poetry, mythology, and literature.

Diane Worrell is managing editor, assisted by editorial board members Tom W. Dillard and Timothy G. Nutt.

Dillard, head of the University of Arkansas Libraries’ special collections department, said, “Arkansas offers a fertile field for inquiry into food — its history, traditions, folklore, and its current culinary scene too. I hope Arkansauce will serve to focus that inquiry.”

Contents of the first issue include an essay by Nelson defining Arkansas cuisine, John J. Ragsdale’s description of foods his family ate during the Great Depression, an article by Michael B. Dougan about beans in Arkansas history and Kane Webb’s discourse on Arkansas barbecue. Additionally, Tom DeBlack describes his favorite Arkansas Delta eateries, Trey Berry writes about the social role of small town mom-and-pop hamburger joints, Kat Robinson explores the cooking of fried green tomatoes, Louise Terzia discusses blackberry cobbler and Ray Wittenberg describes his favorite pie shop in DeValls Bluff.

The journal also contains food-related pieces from manuscript collections and cookbooks held by the special collections department such as a description of the oldest cookbook (1924) in special collections, a menu from a 1948 Hot Springs victory dinner celebrating Sid McMath’s gubernatorial victory and a recipe for cooking steak by Charles J. Finger, a Fayetteville author and adventurer who died in 1941. The department is expanding its collection of foodways materials by seeking donations of Arkansas menus and other food-related items.

The journal will initially be distributed free of charge and published annually. To request a copy, send an e-mail to verobert@uark.edu. To donate materials and get further information call the special collections department at (479) 575-5577.