Piney Foods

Many regions of the country are defined by the food produced and
eaten by its people. The Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Louisiana, and
New England are examples of this. The Pine Barrens is no different
and had a culinary history as well as a culture all its own.
The three main influences on Pine Barrens cookery were the
backgrounds of the people, the food available to them, and the
financial situation of the region itself.
Indian influence is one of the main ethnic influences in Pine Barrens
food. Many people in the Pines are of Indian descent and this is
reflected in the food they eat. The Proto-Algonquin word for bread
was *apwaana which is the origin of  both "apon," the Lenape word
for bread and "pone" as in corn pone. Corn pone, bread, cake,
spoon bread, pudding and fritters are common foods in the Pines.
Puddings were a common Indian food as well as
persimmon, sweet potato and pumpkin puddings which are also found in the
Pines. Succotash is known in the Pines as well as New England
and is made the Indian way with dried corn and beans. (Indian succotash
was only made with corn, beans and bear fat.) There is a recipe for berry
dumplings that is identical to the one used by the Delaware in
Oklahoma. And a recipe for dandelion greens is so similar to the one
I got from an old Indian woman from Canada as to leave
the Indian influence beyond a doubt.
The next major ethnic influence in the Pines would be the English.
Pies have been one of the main ways of serving food since historic times.
Pineys would make a pie out of almost anything, with game such as
 deer, rabbit, muskrat, etc. Vegetables and seafood were also used. In fact,
three of the five foods the region is most famous for happen to be
pies: green tomato, clam, and cranberry pies
are most exclusive to the area.
The Dutch, Swedes and Germans also had their influence. The
hamburger and meatball also had an early start with the Pine
Barrens; I found a recipe that was in our family that was
almost identical with one made by a traditional old Piney
from Waretown two opposite ends of the Pines, but the
same influences. The aforementioned pies are the most
well known and common dishes in the Pines.
Besides ethnic influences, the availability of foods had
a strong impact on what Pineys' ate. When the Pines
were an economic epicenter, many different foods were
available to the people of the Pines. Feral cattle and hogs
were so numerous that they actually became a nuisance.
This is how Hog Wallow got its name. But when the iron,
glass and paper industries closed down or left, the remaining
residents were cut off from many sources of food. They
were forced to become self-reliant. Much of the food
that the Pine Barrens people rely on consists of game,
either hunted, trapped or fished. Also wild fruits and
greens are a big part of their diet. I have heard the
hunter-gatherers. The rest of the food consists of what
can be gotten locally from peripheral Pine Barrens towns.
This tends to regionalize some of the recipes. Many of the
recipes from the most southern part of the Pines use sweet
potatoes and lima beans which were available there. Closer
to the shore, seafood is used. Many of these foods, such
as crab cakes, are also Indian in origin.
Blueberries and cranberries are universal throughout the Pines.
The domestic blueberry was developed in the Pine Barrens and
New Jersey is one of the major producers of cranberries in the
country. Cranberry cultivation was also developed here. Pineys
however were using these as a major food source long before
they became commercial. Berry picking became a part of their
yearly cycle of food production and Pineys used to
burn the fields just as thier Indian ancestors used
to do in order to increase the yield.
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