ABOUT THE COLLECTION
The Western Pennsylvania Foodways Collection uses food as a tool to document the stories of our region and uncover a meaningful past.
Our goal is to collect and share oral history interviews, as well as contextual material such as, recipes, images, video, and written text, to document the agriculture and food stories of the region. This collection provides a home for food, labor, and gender knowledge that may have otherwise gone undiscovered. This collection also provides evidence of culture and food labors of many people, including women and ethnic-racial groups who are often underrepresented in historical narratives. By collecting these stories, we honor the men and women whose hard work enriches the landscape of Southwest Pennsylvania's food and culture.
Our First Projects
Babka and Beyond: Bread, Grains, and Baked Goods in Western Pennsylvania
From Noodles to Naan: Grains and Diverse Foodways
“Buckwheat” County: The Agricultural History from Seed to Mill
Italian-American Foodways: An Exploration of the Italian-American food experience in Pittsburgh
BABKA AND BEYOND: BREAD, GRAINS, AND BAKED GOODS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
The Project
This flagship project of the Western Pennsylvania Foodways Collection explored in-depth stories about how grains -- from agriculture to bread making and baking -- can contribute to larger themes of identity, community, and social capital. Through this project, we aimed to better understand how people interact with the food system through the most basic of needs: bread. Bread defines community -- through the type of grain used, the method of preparing and cooking, and perhaps most importantly, with whom people break bread. Those similarities and differences cut across regions, cultures, and nations. This project relied on a common approach to oral history as a research method that uncovers the experiences of people and place through food.
This project encompasses a series of oral history interviews that aim to document a previously undocumented segment of Western Pennsylvania culture and labor. The project includes forty interviews, audio and video clips, and workshops and events, all encompassing either grains cultivation (farms and mills) or grains production (bakeries and baked goods businesses).
The Region
For this project, we focused our interviews within the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. The Rivers of Steel Heritage area is a federally designated region in southwestern Pennsylvania, focused on the promotion of the area's rich culture and history, specifically within the steel industry. By aligning the regions in which major industry took place, we can draw comparisons and contrasts between the baking and the steel industries, specifically within themes of labor and place.
The national heritage area encompasses the following counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Greene, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland.
The Interviews
Nigel Tudor, Weatherbury Farms
T. Lyle Ferderber, Frankferd Farms
Becca Hegarty, Bitter Ends Garden & Luncheonette
Alex Sanchioli, Sanchioli Brothers Bakery
Scott Baker, 5 Generations Baking
Naomi Costello, Friendship Farms
Jamie Gallagher and Marlene Bowen, The Pretzel Shop
Kristen Peffer and Joanie Sinz, Two Fraus Bakery
Marc Serrao, Oakmont Bakery
Mark Zanella, Zanella Milling
Pat French, West Homestead Baking Co.
Ed Markoff, West Homestead Baking Co.
Joseph Chahine, Pitaland
Clyde Hennings, Loafers Bread
Ally Slayden, Butterwood Bake Consortium
Father Paul Taylor, St. Vincent Gristmill
Catherin Rodgers, Laguerhaus Bakery
Seth Murphy, Wunderbar Coffee and Crepes
Diane Rutten, Kullmans Bakery
Chloe Newman, CrustWorthy LLC
Lori Sands, Going with the Grain Bakery
Terina Hicks, Cobbler World Baked Goods
Nate Johnson, Wildfire Bread
Shauna Kearns, Braddock Community Oven
Jim Patterson, Harmony Farm
Neil Blazen, Driftwood Oven
Carl Vitti, Nabisco
Kathy Monezis Harvey, Minerva Bakery
Andrea Schrenk, La Normande
Heather Sprague, Novel Bread Co.
Mary Mancini Hunter and Nick Mancini Hunter, Mancini's Bakery
Noreen Halvonik, George Washington's Grist Mill
Paul Roth, Roth Milling
Fred Hartman, Breadworks
Stan Malecki, McConnell's Mill State Park
Brian, Oram's Donuts
Kristi DeMaiolo Harper, Cafe Kolache
Larry Kozlowski, Polish Food Historian
Kristina Taylor, Knox Bakery
Caroline McCullon, Wesley Grange Buckwheat Supper
John Moreira, Villa Maria Farm
Listen Now
Audio interviews can be found through Artstor Public’s Collection, as well as through Chatham University's Library Archives and Special Collections
Video clips, photographs, full transcriptions, and more audio will continue to be added to both links! Please reach out to us at craft@chatham.edu with any questions.
READ NOW
Read some articles, listen to audio clips, and watch videos about this project in CRAFT media!