A trip to down to North Carolina to visit my family was the perfect excuse to pay a visit to Wilber's Barbecue. Wilber's hasn't changed much if at all in the 26 years I've been eating there. Growing up, we'd stop at Wilber's on our way down to the beach on summer weekends and order barbecue, slaw, and bread (hush puppies) from the takeout counter. I didn't realize it at the time, but we were eating some of the best barbecue in the country and, in my opinion, the best Eastern Carolina–style barbecue—whole hog smoked over an oakwood fire, chopped and dressed with a peppery vinegar sauce. Wilber’s Barbecue is such a well-loved barbecue institution that the city of... More

Editor's note: I just want to take a moment here to introduce this post, and then I'll let you have at it. On Fridays, we'll be featuring Southern Foodways items, from Melissa Hall of the Southern Foodways Alliance. The SFA is an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." This is the first in the series. Dig in! —Adam Immigration is in the news and working its way in to the consciousness of thinking eaters everywhere. The reality: Much of the food we enjoy comes to us through the labor of immigrants—on the farm and in the kitchen. Much of the recent political debate centers on the arrival or deportation... More