Blue Ridge Books will host Rick McDaniel, the author of An Irresistible History of Southern Food: Four Centuries of Black-Eyed Peas, Collard Greens, & Whole Hog Barbeque, at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 9.

McDaniel has been a working journalist for 30 years and a full-time food writer for more than a decade. Coconut cakes, vegetables fresh from the garden and abundant Sunday dinners flavored his upbringing in a small North Carolina town in the 1960s. A member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, he is dedicated to preserving Southern culinary heritage by collecting and publishing historical recipes.

He has been a consultant to the producers of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel, as well as a Southern Regional panelist for the James Beard Foundation’s chef and restaurant awards.

McDaniel explores the history of over 150 recipes, from Maryland stuffed ham to South Carolina chicken bog to New Orleans shrimp Creole.

828.456.6000.