In his masterful epic work of history, David Hackett Fischer wrote of the cultural “ways” that settlers from the northern English and lowland Scottish borderlands brought to the Appalachian frontier. There, traditional ways of cooking and eating blended with Native American traditions. Settlers also found the frontier provided in some cases a bounty, and others a paucity, of foods traditionally enjoyed.
Mid Atlantic Arts, founded in 1979, provides direct grant support to projects throughout the region. Its Central Appalachian Living Traditions program offers an Appalachian Foodways Practitioner Fellowship.
Two of the fellowship recipients for this year include Siara Benoit and Takia Gaylord of Mathias.
Benoit, according to the website, is an “autodidact whose civic engagement and independent study have shaped her more deeply than traditional education.” She “turned to ancestral knowledge systems” and “embraces land stewardship and ancestral culinary practices as pathways to personal and collective healing.”
Gaylord, who has a PhD in biomedical sciences from Tufts University, “designs and maintains Kinfolk Heritage Farm’s growing spaces.”
According to its website, “the fellowship started in 2022 during the Appalachian Food Summit. The fellowship was launched because organizers recognized that there are few opportunities for monetary support and recognition of community-based foodways practitioners.”
It also notes that the “foodways practitioner” has never received as much attention as other cultural fields. It offers as an example the fact that the “National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, our nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts, has never been awarded to a foodways practitioner.”
Fellowships can go to “home cooks and bakers, seed savers, farmers, community elders, keepers of recipes and traditional foodways knowledge, hunters, and foragers, who have made significant and long-term contributions to sustaining and supporting the foodways heritage of their respective communities.”
That said, the list is not definitive. The fellowship is open to any type of practice related to the core mission of promoting and exploring traditional Appalachian food ways.
The application period opened last week, but closes on Aug. 17. Those who earn the $5,000 fellowship commence work on Nov. 1, 2026 and close by Dec. 1, 2027. They must submit a final report on their work by Jan. 31, 2028.
Applications are made online. Those submitting should be prepared to “upload three work samples of the highest quality available, with both recent and past examples to demonstrate the quality and longevity of the applicant’s contributions. Samples may include YouTube links, audio clips, photos, website URL, etc.”
All fellows must attend the 2026 Appalachian Studies Association to accept their award. A hand-crafted item by an Appalachian artist will be given as part of the award. They must also “participate in a one-hour session to share about their foodways work.”
