Whistleberries, Stirabout, & Depression Cake

"Wring that cow's tail and shove her this way!" Or you could just say, "Pass the grease!" After all, you might need some butter for your steaming stack of hots or string of flats. Filling your belly in the frontier West was more diverse and entertaining than you might ever imagine. Federal Writers' Project field workers, under the direction of Works Project Administration (WPA), collected anecdotes and history surrounding the food customs and concoctions of Americans. Written in the late 1930s, the manuscript for the western section of the coutnry abounds with tales of miners, lumberjacks, ranch housewives, range dwellers, and the stories of whole communities eating, drinking, and wisecracking. This book tells the story of food and eating in the frontier West. It includes a contemporary foreword by food writer and cookbook author Greg Patent and a selection of favorite specialty recipes from each state.