Local authors explore Stark County food history

SALEM, Ohio — If we are what we eat, then what we are has changed drastically over the last 200 years. 

There are major differences between the food industry today, and how people got their food in the early days of pioneers and farmsteads. Stark County is no exception. 

So, to reflect on the history of food in the area, Kimberly Kenney and Barbara Abbott wrote Stark County Food: From Early Farming to Modern Meals. 

The book

The book explores the history of food in Stark County, including farming and agriculture, restaurants, grocery stores, family recipes, organizations that work against food insecurity in Stark County, and other aspects. 

“It’s way more than a cookbook,” Abbott explained, calling the book “a comprehensive food history.” 

In 2017, Arcadia Publishing & The History Press asked Abbott, the owner of Canton Food Tours, to write a book about the history of food in Stark County for their American Palate series. Around the same time, Kenney, the executive director of the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, was organizing Project Eat, a celebration and showcase of food in Stark County, for 2019.

Abbott asked Kenney to write the book with her. 

“We made a good team because she is the historian and has access to historical articles, and then I have connections to food purveyors and restaurant owners,” Abbott said. 

They released the book in March 2019, to kick off a year of food celebration and appreciation in Stark County. 

Food history

Kenney said the grocery store chapter, in particular, showed how our relationship to food has changed over the years. 

“Look at the way we used to get our food,” she said, contrasting the earlier, self-sufficient pioneers and farmsteads with today’s supermarkets. 

“We are becoming further and further removed from where our food is coming from,” she said. 

“If you taste a tomato you grew yourself, there’s no relation to the tomatoes in the store,” she added. 

Abbott, however, pointed out a recent increase of interest in food. She said many locally owned restaurants and even some larger chain restaurants show where their food is sourced from. 

“Farm to plate has become very popular,” she said, “even organic, fair trade … all of that verbiage comes back to knowing where the food comes from, who is producing it … whether its a crop or animal, people want to trace where it came from.” 

Contemporary food

In addition to exploring older grocery stores and other food history, Abbott interviewed current Stark County businesses in the food industry. This included Hartville Kitchen, a popular destination, and Minerva Dairy, America’s oldest family-owned creamery. 

“It was wonderful, because I got to hear their family stories and how their company started,” Abbott said. “It’s usually a very simple start that leads to something grand.” 

She and Kenney wanted to tell the stories of how major attractions like Hartville Kitchen and Gervasi Vineyard started.

Kenney does not think most people are aware of their local food history, but believes the book can fill that gap. 

“Everyone has to eat, so there is something everyone can relate to,” she said. 

Abbott agreed that many people in the area probably do not realize how much food history Stark County has, and she hopes the book will offer a fun and educational look at this history. 

“I think when people get to learn more about a particular place and history, they feel like they’re more a part of it,” Abbott said. 

Kenney hopes the book will encourage people to “look at their personal lives and think about the way food connects us to each other.”

Food exhibits accompany book 

A new exhibition, Stark County Food: From Early Farming to Modern Meals, will open June 13 at the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum at 6 p.m., with a free opening reception featuring food from Canton restaurants. 

The exhibition is based on the themes in Kim Kenney and Barb Abbott’s new book of the same name, which explores what Stark County residents have eaten over the past 200 years. 

The exhibition is sponsored by the Stark County Farm Bureau. 

Stark County Food is part of Project EAT!, a countywide celebration of all things food. From June 22 through July 21, three area museums will have food-themed exhibitions on view. 

• The Canton Museum of Art’s exhibition Food for Thought, featuring food-themed artwork from their permanent collection, is on view now through July 21. 
• A Heritage of Harvest: The Industry of Agriculture in Western Stark County opens at the Massillon Museum June 22. 
• At the McKinley museum, Stark County Food begins with a look at farming in the region, which includes a large cash register that was used at Harry Ink’s Aplink Orchard in the early 20th century. Other sections include grocery stores, wholesale food companies, restaurants, cookbooks, rationing, ethnic influences, bakeries, dairies, legacy families, community organizations, and culinary tourism. 

A special section will feature the evolution of kitchen appliances over time. 

The exhibition includes video clips from the Project EAT! Oral History Project, based on interviews that were conducted in 2017 and 2018.

Events during the exhibition’s run include a panel that highlights the organizations who are fighting food insecurity in Stark County, and the museum is running a series of drives for food, gardening tools, and pots and pans throughout the exhibition’s run to benefit food pantries and StarkFresh. Visitors will receive $1 off admission during each of the drives.

Stark County Food will be on view through Jan. 5, 2020.

Meet the authors

On June 12, visitors can meet authors Kim Kenney and Barb Abbott at a luncheon and exhibit preview from noon to 1 p.m. The program will feature an exclusive look at images that were not included in the book, as well as a special preview and tour of the exhibition based on the book, which opens to the public the next day.  

Lunch will feature food from DioGuardi’s Italian Market, which is included in the book.  Cost is $15 and pre-paid reservations are required by calling 330-455-7043.

The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum is located at 800 McKinley Monument Drive N.W., Canton Ohio.