Why do they call it a hush puppy?

The food or the shoe? It is generally accepted that the food got its name becasue at some point someone threw one to a dog to keep it quiet. Various legends say it was either Confedrate soldiers feeding corn biscuit rations to their dogs, or farmers to their dogs, or a chef somewhere to his dog. Whoever first coined the phrase, it stuck.

The shoe got its name from the food. A sales mamager for the shoe company was treated to some hush puppies by a friend and was told they got their name for being able to quite barking dogs. Since "barking dogs" was a slang term for sore feet, the saleman git the brilliant idea to call the shoe Hush Puppies because they were soft and comfortable, thereby able to quiet "barking dogs".