Jeanne Voltz & the Southern Foodways Alliance

Last week I joined the Southern Foodways Alliance in honor of newspaper food editor Jeanne Voltz.

Here is information about Jeanne Voltz’s role in the organization:
“The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi agreed to act as the incubator of the SFA and provided start-up capital, earned from sale of the Center-researched and written cookbook, A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South. (In May of 1998, the Center had staged the first Southern Foodways Symposium, organized by John T Edge, then a graduate student.)

Two organizations with similar aims preceded the SFA: The Society for the Preservation and Revitalization of Southern Food, spearheaded by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, and the American Southern Food Institute, led by, among others, Jeanne Voltz. Soon after the SFA was established, both organizations folded their member rolls and cash reserves into the SFA.”

Here is an article I wrote about Voltz’s years at the Los Angeles Times which demonstrated the significance of her work.

There were several Southern newspaper food editors in The Food Section. Atlanta food editor Grace Hartley wrote a cookbook about Southern cooking that was highly regarded. Orlando food editor Grace Barr also wrote a popular cookbook about Southern dishes.

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