Dualchas: Tracing the Legacies of Culinary Contributions from Scotland to Appalachia

Dualchas: Tracing the Legacies of Culinary Contributions from Scotland to Appalachia

Dualchas is a Scots-Gaelic term meaning tradition, heritage, culture, and character. This talk will explore how the migration of three grains, oats, corn, and barley, embody dualchas, shaping the lives of Scots-Irish pioneers in ways that continue to influence the experiences today's tourists are offered. The influence of these humble grains reverberates in Appalachia and beyond hundreds of years later, sharing stories about the lives of its people and offering new opportunities to understand the region's history.

Within Ashli’s book, Hungry Roots How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Resilience the chapter, “Dualchas, Connection, and Food Migration in Appalachia’s Culinary Tradition,” has the researchers “analyze three food examples based on fieldwork in Scotland and Appalachia, illustrating how migration shapes the experiences tourists are offered” (p. 65). In this chapter, the researchers also (a) examine the relationship between migration and heritage/culinary tourism; and (b) develop a theoretical framework drawn…