I’ve read a pile of books about barbecue, southern foodways, and meat in general. The following have been the most inspiring and influential. From some I’ve learned barbecue history, culture, and conflict; from others, how to write about food.
Adams, Carol J. The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory. New York: Continuum, 2000. Print.
Aidells, Bruce. Bruce Aidells’s Complete Book of Pork. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.
Bjorkman, Bruce. The Great Barbecue Companion: Mops, Sops, Sauces, and Rubs. Freedom, Calif.: Crossing, 1996. Print.
Bourdain, Anthony. A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.
——. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. New York: Ecco, 2000. Print.
Bourette, Susan. Meat: A Love Story. New York: Putnam, 2008. Print.
Davis, Ardie A., and Chef Paul Kirk. American’s Best BBQ: 100 Recipes from America’s Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 2009. Print.
Early, Jim. The Best Tar Heel Barbecue: Manteo to Murphy. Winston-Salem: Privately printed, 2002. Print.
Edge, John T. Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 2007. Print.
Elie, Lolis Eric, ed. Corn Bread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2004. Print.
Elie, Lolis Eric, and Frank Stewart. Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996. Print.
Engelhardt, Elizabeth S. D. Republic of Barbecue: Stories beyond the Brisket. Austin: U of Texas P, 2009. Print.
Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh. The River Cottage Meat Book. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2007. Print.
Finley, John. The Courier-Journal Kentucky Cookbook. Louisville: Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, 1985. Print.
Graf, Jeffrey. “The Word Hoosier.” Indiana University. Web. Sept. 21, 2012.
Kaminsky, Peter. Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine and Some of the Great Ways to Cook Them. New York: Hyperion, 2005. Print.
“THE KENTUCKY BARBEQUE: Some of the Picturesque Phases of the Great Political Picnics; NOTED ONES OF OTHER DAYS; How Whole Animals Were Cooked and Vast Quantities of Burgoo Pre-pared and Eaten.” Louisville Courier-Journal Nov. 7, 1897: n. pag. Web. Apr. 19, 2011.
Lee, Matt, and Ted Lee. The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. New York: Norton, 2006. Print.
Lilly, Chris. Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ Book: Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary Barbecue Joint. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2009. Print.
Midkiff, Ken. The Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America’s Food Supply. New York: St. Martins Griffin, 2004. Print.
Mills, Mike, and Amy Mills Tunnicliffe. Peace, Love and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, 2005. Print.
Moss, Robert F. Barbecue: The History of an American Institution. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2010. Print.
Page, Linda Garland, and Eliot Wigginton, eds. The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery. New York: Dutton, 1984. Print.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.
Reed, John Shelton, and Dale Volberg Reed. Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2008. Print.
Sohn, Mark F. Appalachian Home Cooking: History, Culture, and Recipes. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2005. Print.
Staten, Vince. Jack Daniel’s Old Time Barbecue Cookbook. Louisville: Sulgrave, 1991. Print.
Staten, Vince, and Greg Johnson. Real Barbecue: The Classic Barbecue Guide. Guilford, Conn.: Pequot, 2007. Print.
Steingarten, Jeffrey. The Man Who Ate Everything: And Other Gastronomic Feats, Disputes, and Pleasurable Pursuits. New York: Vintage, 1997. Print.
Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. “Mutton, Honey.” Gourmet Nov. 2006. Web. Sept. 21, 2012.
——. Roadfood. New York: Broadway, 2008. Print.
Trillin, Calvin. The Tummy Trilogy. New York: Noonday, 1994. Print.
Veteto, James R., and Edward M. Maclin, eds. The Slaw and the Slow Cooked: Culture and Barbecue in the Mid-South. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2011. Print.
Warnes, Andrew. Savage Barbecue: Race, Culture, and the Invention of America’s First Food. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2008. Print.