Share
Foy Allen Edelman spent four years visiting every county in North Carolina to collect recipes.
The result is her first book, “Sweet Carolina: Favorite Desserts and Candies from the Old North State,” recently published by UNC Press. A second book on soups is in the works.
Edelman says she told people she was looking for recipes that were representative of the local communities. Referrals to home cooks came from friends, former co-workers, extension agents, historical societies, the state council on aging – even a man at a tourist information booth who sent her to his sister-in-law's house. She got invited in for lunches, Sunday dinners, even family reunions.
“I walked in off the streets, and people were so nice to me,” Edelman says.
Edelman, 59, grew up in Kinston. She often visited small N.C. towns with her father, a lawyer, while on business or with her mother, who kept close contact with even distant relations. She now lives in Wake County.
Edelman became a single mother in her late 20s and decided a career in computers would be a safe choice. She was paid well but wasn't fulfilled by her cubicle work life. In the 1990s, after hearing Jan Karon – best-selling author of the Mitford series – talk about praying for a creative life, Edelman decided to start doing the same.
Her efforts to find a creative outlet intensified when she turned 50. Her father died, an injury left her unable to run anymore and she lost her job in state government. She decided to visit those little towns again, collecting stories and recipes.
“I am a folk artist,” Edelman explains. “This is my medium.”
One visit she will not forget was with Elizabeth Sanderlin, then 98, of Moyock in Currituck County. To get there in time, Edelman was on the road by 5 a.m. and had packed sound equipment to record their conversation. But when she got there, the lawn was being mowed. Edelman was deflated and stressed out over her inability to record their talk. But when Sanderlin took her to the screened back porch and said, “I want you to sit here and tell me about yourself,” Edelman says, her stresses disappeared.
Nothing else mattered at that moment, other than talking to Sanderlin while gazing upon acres of cornfields.
About the cookbook, she says, “This is the answer to my prayers.”
