How can anyone resist a sassy book title like this one?
It's been fun learning about Southern (establishment) life through the hilarious stories and interesting recipes in this book.
Most of the stories come from the close-knit community of Greenville in the Mississippi Delta area and read like a transcription of oral history - it's hard to tell how long ago some of them happened. They showcase the best and worst of smalltown life gathering-around in times of crisis, the tradition, gossip, snobbery, and quips can sound a bit over-the-top and stereotypical, except for the fact that this book was a huge unexpected success because so many readers related to it!
Most of the recipes have a retro feel to it - aspics, stuffed eggs, cakes on stands, finger sandwiches, punches - especially as they relate to formal gatherings. They sound quite delicious although they often include ingredients not available outside of the South/US.

Finally, someone puts words to why Campbells Cream of Mushroom equals comfort food.....and is appropriate for funerals. But only if you're Methodist. Episcipalians don't roll that way. Good to know.

Will make you laugh out loud while your mouth waters reading the recipes.

Thought this would be a lot funnier than it actually was. Was written very tongue-in-cheek but that got old after a chapter or two. Recipes were included after each section, but most sounded quite unappetizing and were pretty old-fashioned. The book as a whole smacked of old-fashionedness, as a matter of fact.


Didn't care for this one. And I'm from the south!

Funny stories, cultural commentary, and enough cake and casserole recipes to clog your arteries. It's like reading a cookbook assembled by the cast of Steel Magnolias.

You’ll Die Laughing

This tongue in cheek guide to the way death is done in the Delta felt very familiar to this Hillbilly in western North Carolina. While here in the mountains it might not be tomato aspic (gasp), the loyalty to certain funeral foods and the dos and don’ts for burying your loved ones feels like hearing an old familiar song sung in a new key. The sense of the comic and the tragic going hand in hand cuts across the South even into these hills. I laughed out loud more than once and now it’s time to plan my own funeral.

Lots of interesting recipes to try. The book wasn't quite what I thought it would be. Very heavy on recipe content and less on text. That's not a bad thing but not what I expected. Not being from the South I always wonder how tongue-in-cheek these books are meant to be. Are they really poking fun at themselves? I know this reflects some lifestyle points of people in the South but I can't take it too seriously. And as a "Yankee" if I am not meant to take it seriously then what is the point of making fun of Southern funeral culture?

Between this and Fried Green Tomatoes, I feel like I'm building an Iron Man suit of southernness for myself. I have no problem with this.

I've never actually been to a full funeral, but there's something about southern church culture (especially that long period in my life of going to a Methodist church) that makes it easy to predict. Everything about this rings true, albeit varnished over with good old country exaggeration.

Anyway, the book is cute. A lot of it is recipes (some of which I'm skeptical of, some of which I want to make Right Now) which makes for a very quick read, since reading recipes is not something you usually do after skimming the title and the blurb that goes with it. The anecdotes are fun, pointing out foibles and weaknesses of white southern "funeral culture" while also having fun with its strengths. (I was so hungry throughout this book. So much talk about cream of mushroom soup. I haven't had casserole in ages.) Very entertaining, quick read, if you're not uncomfortable with funeral stuff.

Also, what the heck is aspic? How have I never heard of this? This was speaking more about what it called the Miss-Ark-La tristate area, so maybe aspic didn't make it to Alabama? I don't know. It sounds like poison. There's a recipe, though, so maybe I'll make it.

Very funny, and loads of yummy recipes, I'm even going to use one for our thanksgiving feast.

A very humorous read, packed with many interesting recipes.