Why and How!!
A
brief explanation of why and how the ‘Italian Redneck
Cookbook’ originated may be in order.
The term ‘Redneck’ in the title should not be confused with the
popular understanding of that term. The stereotype painted by
some as a derogatory epithet of the lifestyle of the Southern lower
class is far from what the title infers.
The Redneck Author being Italian is proud of his heritage and
ties to those who paid a high price to achieve equality of wages and
social status.
The term redneck originated in Scotland around 1638 during
the persecution of the Lowland Presbyterians by the Church of
England.
The Lowlanders protested and wore red pieces of cloth around
their neck hence the term ‘redneck’ which became a Scottish slang
word for dissenter. Many of these people settled in the
Appalachian Mountains and the term was coined by an author in
1830. It eventually turned into a derogatory slang word referring to
poor Southern white farmers.
The title of this book refers to a completely different meaning
of the term ‘redneck’. My dad was a miner in the coal fields of
Western Pennsylvania and a member of the United Mine Workers
of America. The union and rival unions used the term redneck and
a red bandana, in order to build multiracial unions of white, black,
and immigrant miners in the strike-ridden coalfields of northern
and central Appalachia between 1912 and 1936.
