ELIZA SCRUTON
![By Joseph Brent (Flickr: FIDDLES!) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://okramagazine.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/okra-image.jpg?w=640&h=426)
By Joseph Brent (Flickr: FIDDLES!) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Much like food, music often becomes an iconic representation of its culture. Buskers with accordions fit into the prototypical Paris experience just as much as croissants and crepes suzettes. Salsa music and pressed sandwiches both make Cuban culture what it is. And banjos are just as symbolic of the American South as biscuits and gravy. Not surprisingly, as music and food are so intrinsic to cultural heritage, the two come together quite a bit. Because folk music has shaped my life so profoundly, I was curious to explore those points of intersection.
Naturally, my Folk Week friends were the first people I went to for examples of how profoundly a culture’s food influences its music. People came up with dozens of ideas off the top of their heads, because food and drink is everywhere in folk music. “How Many Biscuits Can You Eat,” “Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait,” “The Young Man Who Wouldn’t Raise Corn.” Even the old familiar “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” mentions chicken and dumplings, a Southern specialty if there ever was one.
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By Dan4th Nicholas [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Usually. When it comes down to it, it’s hard to find a topic that folk singers can’t turn mournful. One song that comes to mind is “John Barleycorn Must Die,” an apparent murder ballad that’s actually a metaphor for milling barley to brew beer. The Punch Brothers’ “Rye Whiskey” serves as a cautionary tale about what happens when you drink too much of the title substance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, songs about alcohol vary considerably in their mood. There’s a stark contrast between a rousing chorus of a jolly drinking song like “Little Brown Jug” and a song like “Jack of Diamonds,” which tells of the woes of alcohol-induced gambling. Good music has the remarkable ability to capture the complexity of human emotion as it relates to a particular topic. Through music, food can be delightful, or mournful, or pretty much anywhere in between.
Food has been a topic worth singing about for centuries, and at this rate it seems like it’s going to keep being sung about for many years to come. It’s all over folk music, but it’s also pretty visible in more modern tunes. From contemporary country favorites like “Chicken Fried” and “Beer For My Horses” to the endless gourmet food references of chef-turned-hip-hop-artist Action Bronson, it seems pretty clear that food is not losing its place in the world of music any time soon. And I, for one, look forward to seeing where it goes.
There’s this quote I found years ago: “‘Tis better to be body hungry than soul hungry.” Maybe all the great food music out there is just trying to bridge that gap.