Weekly Blogroll: Amishness Increasing? Amish Cheesy Ham and Potato Pie, Vintage Recipes, Mennonites in Belize, and 31 Days of Amish Lessons!

Okay, we have quite a variety in our spin through the blogosphere today.

AMISHNESS RISING? A couple of University of Utah researchers put together an interesting premise.  In a nutshell:  over time, they argue,  "Amish-ness" is increasing because those who leave the church were sort of "less Amish" anyway so the remaining Amish are representative of quintessential Amish.  These remaining Amish marry one another and create children who are "even more Amish" than their parents and thus over time the church culture is strengthening, not weakening.   I think it is an interesting premise, but one that (and I did read the full paper) ignores the deep differences among various Amish groups.   You have Old Order, New Order, Swartzentruber, and Beachy Amish, plus such wide variation witin these groups.  And the increasing impact of social media among the Amish is notable and is changing the models used to measure "Amishness."  I do think it is an interesting premise and I think the researchers might have found a better example among Francophones in Quebec.  There you have a homogeneous population that is actually getting more "Francophone" over time, not less, for some of the very reasons they cite in their research.  Click here to read more about this interesting but, in my view flawed, study.

AMISH CHEESY HAM AND POTATO PIE:  Yum, yum, yum....this recipe sounds a little quiche-y...would make a delicious breakfast for supper or breakfast for breakfast:)  Check out this recipe here.  Amish cooks that would make this recipe would, most likely, be using fresh eggs straight from their own hens, home-butchered pork, and garden-grown potatoes.  So there would be an absolute freshness in this dish prepared in an Amish kitchen that might be lacking  if you try to replicate this at home with store-bought ingredients, but it will probably still be delish!

31 DAYS OF AMISH LESSONS:   Let's check in with Lydia Glick again (Justina Dee is the blogger's name, she has combined the names of her grandmothers to create the blog Lydia Glick.)  Glick is a very interesting last name among the Amish because you don't find the name everywhere, it's highly localize to Lancaster County and daughter settlements elsewhere (Wayne County, Indiana; Parke County, Indiana, for instance).  King is another common Amish last name but primarily in Lancaster County. Justina is writing about her Amish heritage for all 31 days of October, there are some interesting posts and pictures, so sit back and enjoy! Click here.

GRANDMA'S VINTAGE RECIPES, AMISH CHEESE SOUP AND MORE: This is a blog you really have to set aside some time for because you'll be rapt by these old-time recipes many which she posts the photos of the original recipe cards, etc.  Recipes are more than just food, they are cultural capsules that give a window into our way of life. Here is a recipe for Amish Cheese Soup.  But the blog recently feature recipes for raised doughnuts,  deep-dish chicken pot pie,  brown sugar fluff frosting, and cornflake macaroons...not necessarily Amish recipes but from the same culinary traditions. Enjoy!

MENNONITES IN BELIZE:  An interesting blog entry about some of Latin America's most conservative Mennonites. Click here for an interesting read. SIGH, I want to make it down there one of these days!