Customer Reviews

Rebel Cornbread and Yankee Coffee

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Garry Fisher has put together a quick study of the Civil War soldier diet. It features chapters that focus on feeding the armies, recipes, camp songs derived from food and passing time in camp. Fisher brings to light the popular recipes commonly used by soldiers north or south. Recipes for cooking with hardtack, salt pork, corn bread and beef, give fascinating insight into these horrible foods soldiers were faced with eating. I recommend this book to anyone looking to get basic, popular camp recipes for campaign-style eating. Reenactors looking to improve their impression would benefit greatly by reading this informative, yet sometimes humorous book that captures the daily diet of a Civil War soldier. 5 STARS!

Garry Fisher offers an engaging account of the doldrums of army life in the 1860s. Rebel Cornbread and Yankee Coffee is packed with historical facts, written in a manner that brings the past right into present (even into your kitchen). This book includes something for everyone who is curious about what daily life was like for the soldiers who fought and died in the War Between the States.

Garry Fisher's writing style is clean and clever. Throughout the book he skillfully weaves together vivid anecdotes with well-documented facts in an interesting and tastefully humorous way. Just a great read all around

If you study history, any war, any nation, you should know something about the food they eat, the food available to them, or not available. Hard track and cornbread, coffee and tea, parched corn and salt pork, learn how the soldiers used what food they had available, be it rations they hated or gifts from home. Along with the recipes there are also song related to food and stories about the pranks they played on others. In other words, this is how they lived, how they dealt with the daily grind of war and loneliness.

I loved this book. Recipies that Civil War soldiers actually used not just "inspired" by Civil War recipies.Good for the reenactor.

As a civil war re-enactor this is one of the best books I have read. I do the cooking in camp and the things they had to cook with gives my camp food the feeling of the camps of 1863. The facts and hsitory I use when i talk with people who visit the camp and this book put some interest into people who have read it. I wish there was more. dale e. bowen

This is a fun and simple book highlighting the time spent off the battlefield. You'll find many recipes...some you'll want to try and some...not so much! But you will smile at their creativity. Also included are words and music to some of the songs they sang to entertain themselves, as well as other favorite pastimes.

This book is a good research tool for the Civil War period. In addition to recipes used by the soldiers in the fields, there are snippets of camp life and period songs. There's also a section on how the men passed their free time between soldierly duties. To be honest, my spoiled modern palate can't quite conceive of trying most of the recipes, but the rest of the book is a fun snapshot of life for the soldiers of the North and South.

While these are authentic recipes, they don't taste very good... But my son is a civil war buff, and the history and recipe combination makes this book top rate for him.

Too many who study historyspend their time studying the dates and events with little to no attention paid to the lives. That's one reason I find historic diaries so intresting, they give us an insight into how the people lived during a given time. "Rebel Cornbread and Yankee Coffee" isn't a diary, but it's just as good if you want an idea of how people lived in the army camps. Look at the full title, it's "Rebel Cornbread and Yankee Coffee: Authentic Civing War Cooking and Comaraderier." That's right, it's more than just cooking. It also deals with pasttimes the men enjoyed, songs they sang, and even how they felt about the food they ate.

I actually own two copies of this wonderful book, one I bought and one I just got this past Christmas. Let me tell you, I often look up information in this book when I go to answer folks about how the soldiers lived. It's just as important to know how the soldiers lived and what they ate as it is to know the dates and events. And you get a better idea of why they felt the way they did about their food if you actually try it yourself. I enjoy recipes from this era, but I can see how if you had them over and over again virtually day after day you'd come to hate the food too.

This really isn't that interesting of a book. It's a collection of Civil War recipes--but nothing you'd want to eat. Really, this is only for the Civil War buff.