January 2023 Update. More recipes. More books on the shelves. Getting older. Other than that, nothing much has changed except what started out long ago as some disjointed “Big Dawgs Jawin'” posts–chats with Missy and her Dear Friend Rocky–turned into a book, with another on the way. We’ve got five more years of learning tucked away in our brains. And we’ve got a new Southern fast food restaurant in town. Big Life! Hope you can say the same.

February 2019 Update. We’ve lived on Farther Along Farm in rural Mississippi for nine and one-half years now. A lot has transpired. Things have changed and changed back. People have come and gone, and come back and gone again. As you can see from the sidebar post count, Bigfoodetc. itself has come and gone and come back again!

All that I initially wrote About in late 2011 is still the case. Food– home cooking– gardens– life on a Farm with some talking dogs and a few thousand books– all still here for wanderers of the world wide web to stumble upon. Very little political. A lot cultural. A statistical / critical analysis every now & again. Sometimes something happens beyond the gate that gets my knickers get in a knot– those are fun times! Hope you enjoy! And here’s hoping you’re living a Big Life!

Big Food: Recipes and more from my husband “Mr. Big Food’s” Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide, now with over 22,000 32,000 [edit 8/19/18] recipes! From the Introduction

For more than thirty years I’ve collected and cooked out of old cookbooks. Many have spiral or other types of non-glued binders, indicating local publication. Most are compilations of recipes by local cooks, mostly in southern, southwestern, and western regions of the United States of America. This is real people’s food—fresh, simply prepared, and delicious. It’s the same food Americans were eating a century ago, updated with some spices and recipes that more recent immigrants have added to the mix that is real American home cooking.

Real American home cooking is a food heritage that needs and deserves to be preserved. It is one of the few remaining aspects of American life and culture that needs and deserves preserving. The Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide is deliberatively and self-consciously “retro.” Yet I’ve served this food to groups, both large and small, of very sophisticated eaters. I’ve received few complaints, and a lot of “My grandmother used to make this!” comments.

These recipes emphasize fresh, non-processed ingredients. ‘Homemade’ is emphasized throughout. This is the kind of food that kept Americans alive and thriving well into their 80s, long before government and scientific nannies began intervening into our private eating and drinking decisions “for our own good.” …

Big Garden: Self-explanatory

Big Life: Big Food + Big Garden + some talkative Big Dogs +  ~2000 ~3300 ~4000 Crappy Old Books all living on a Big Farm in rural Mississippi. (See also Aristotle.)

A Big Thanksgiving turkey in a Big cooking bag

“Big” is such a funny word, isn’t it? Three little letters so often used to negatively modify certain nouns: BIG government, BIG corporations, BIG business. Or used to comment negatively on an individual: “You’re too BIG for your britches,” “You think you’re such a BIG shot.”

A Big patch of melons and sweet potatoes

Big doesn’t have to be bad, as I hope to show.

A Big snow, by Mississippi standards

I like to think Buddy lived a Big Life here on the farm.

A Big fire

A Big Dog with a Big Heart

Rest in Peace, Buddy.