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A big part of my towns culinary heritage is centered around beans, particularly pinto beans. The chief dish made out of the pintos is something we call “Soup Beans”. Soup beans are pintos which have been slow cooked for hours seasoned only with salt and sugar. Soup beans are seldom served without embellishment, to break the monotony of daily consumption, many things are added to soup beans. Most common additions include; pickled beets, sweet pickles, dill pickles, and southern chow chow (sweet/spicy cabbage based relish). The most popular side dish with soup beans is mustard greens (stewed), mashed potatos, or fried potatos. Ever present on the dinner and supper plates was cornbread, which was consumed far more frequently than sliced breads.

Another very common breakfast when I was growing up was biscuits, very seldom was toast used. Biscuits were usually eaten with butter, honey or the ever so delightful honey-butter, applebutter, jellies, and jams. On occasion breakfast would be rice cooked in a buttery and sweetened water. Gravy was pretty common for breakfast as well, with occasional sausage or boiled then fried salted-pork.

Here is a snippet from a Wikipedia article on Applachian/Mountain Cuisine:

Food served in the Appalachian Mountains differs slightly from other southern cuisine. Terrible travel conditions and poor roads limited most settlements to only foods that could be produced locally. Seafood, beyond the occasionally locally caught fish, was unheard of. Diets were almost meatless, except for wild game, particularly during the winter. Pigs were raised and the meat cured for later consumption, but often, the meat was used as a flavoring instead of as the main course. For example, sausage was often cooked in small portions primarily to obtain grease for use in gravy instead of as a main course. Cornbread was eaten regularly since corn grew well locally. As flour became available, biscuits and johnny cakes became more popular. Salt was available, notably from Saltville, Virginia, but until black pepper appeared, few other seasonings were used. Women in this area were often herbalists, and may have used local plants in seasoning. Chicory, which could be grown locally, was a well known coffee substitute. Corn whiskey, milk, and water were available from the farm. Coffee, sugar, and tea were all slower to become available. Things that tend to be more popular in this area are berries in general as well as apples. Morel mushrooms and ramps (a kind of wild leek that has a very strong smell) are grown here but are much less common in other parts of the South. In the mountains you’ll find ramp festivals and recipes for things like fruit dumplings and wilted lettuce with dressing. Home canning is a strong tradition here as well (including “soup beans”)”

Here is my family bean recipe:
3C Dried Pinto Beans
10C Water
4Tbs Sugar
2Tsp Salt

Look and rinse the beans, removing any foreign elements.

To a slow cooker add the beans and water and turn to low, cook til the beans are quite soft (around 8-10 hrs), add the sugar and salt and stir. Allow to cook 30 minutes more.

Serve these with either a dollop or two of southern chow-chow, pickled beet slices, dill pickles, sweet pickle relish, onion, or sauerkraut. Goes well with a wedge of cornbread, and a glass of buttermilk.