Published Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Driving through the streets of Edwardsville in the humid days of July, you can smell all the backyard grills full of Maull’s BBQ Sauce and pork steaks in neighborhoods like Grandview, or Hale Avenue and Wyma Place. It's not hard to imagine those backyard tables filled with quintessential Midwestern staples: potato salad, deviled eggs, and, if you're lucky, some gooey butter cake. For those of us who grew up here, those cooking smells carried on the breeze smell like home.

If you have ever wondered what those same kinds of neighborhoods might smell like in Clarksdale, Mississippi; Hilo, Hawaii; or Biddeford, Maine, (but you don’t have the time to hop on a plane or drive through the night) the Edwardsville Public Library has you covered, and you don’t even have to leave your own backyard. Among the many online resources that are available to Edwardsville patrons, A to Z Food America is an exhaustive website featuring the foods and traditions that wind from one end of the United States to the other.

*You will need to be logged in to A to Z Food America with your EPL barcode number to click through the links contained in this blog post.*

Our food history, our regional favorites and recipes, and the food traditions brought here by the patchwork of ethnic groups that make up America, are all covered in this easy to navigate, virtual culinary field trip. Want to know how to make traditional Cherokee Fried Squash Bread? You need three summer squash, buttermilk, cornmeal, eggs, and water.

How about some Dirty Rice from Creole country of southern Louisiana? Or maybe Zeppole, Italian doughnuts for the Feast of St. Joseph (but any time is the right time for doughnuts, right?) A to Z will guide you through the correct ingredients, the best way to prepare a dish, and even its history. It is a cooking class and history lesson all on one page. And for those of you with a thirst to be slaked, there are whole pages on beer, coffee and tea, and mixed drinks.

The site allows you to search by region, state, and ethnic group. A to Z also makes it possible to search by ingredients. Whether you are searching for new recipes ideas that contain dairy, pasta, mushrooms, or even ants, A to Z has everything you could possibly want in a food adventure.

If you are not in the mood to eat, and just want to learn more about the history of American food culture, this database contains images of fast food menus and food labels from the past, as well as supermarket ads and classic commercials.

You can also read historical cook books, such as La Cuisine Creole: A Collection of Culinary Recipes, From Leading Chefs and Noted Creole Housewives, Who Have Made New Orleans Famous for its Cuisine from 1885, that you can download and keep.

If you are on vacation and need some help finding good food out on the road, A to Z Food America has a directory of farmer’s markets searchable by zip code so you are never far from fresh fruits and vegetables.

All you need to access A to Z Food America from anywhere is your Edwardsville Public Library barcode. Log in and enjoy all that American cuisine has to offer.