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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, June 6, 2008 at 6:45 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Photograph of Ed Mitchell by Amy Evans.
If you're in the vicinity of Madison Square Park in New York City this weekend, June 7-8, your nose (and stomach) will likely lead you to the 6th Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party. Follow that lead! And to wet your appetite, the SFA offers a BABBP insider's pass.
If the history of this event tells us anything it's that the lines for Ed Mitchell's Whole Hog North Carolina BBQ will be long. Where Mr. Mitchell is concerned, eating his barbecue is a good thing, but getting to hear his story is indeed a great thing. His oral history is a part of the SFA's Southern BBQ Trail and is not to be missed.
Ed Mitchell of The Pit
In 1990, Mrs. Mitchell (Ed's mother) wanted some old-fashioned barbecue, so Ed cooked a pig behind the family grocery. Two years later, Ed converted the store into a barbecue stand. He cooked whole hogs and country-style sides, and he offered what he called a “pig bar,” where customers could eat their fill of chitlins, feet, and snouts.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, May 10, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Southern Foodways appears weekly as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Southern Foodways has an event coming up that serious eaters might want to attend. It is:
Franklin Food & Spirits Festival
May 30 – May 31, 2008, in Franklin, Tennessee
Discover the secrets of the smoke from the nation’s best barbecue pit masters. Indulge in authentic fried pies. Journey by film deep into the legends and lore of the South’s richest food traditions. We promise tasty food and a good time to everyone who attends. Jim 'N Nick's knows good old-fashioned Southern cooking, and we are bringing it to your doorstep with the Southern Food & Spirits Festival. Go whole hog or spend just $25 in BBQ Bucks. Either way, you'll feed body and mind. Advance tickets here, or you can buy BBQ Bucks at the gate.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, April 25, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Photographs taken by Amy C. Evans
SFA oral historian Amy Evans just returned from a weeklong fieldwork-gathering trip to the Windy City, looking for stories of transplanted Southerners who left their homes but held on to family recipes. Some of the people she visited include:
- James Lemons of Lem's Bar-B-Q, who left Indianola, Mississippi, as a young man, following his brothers to Chicago and into the barbecue business.
- Barbara Ann Bracy, who laughed as she remembered her Mississippi-born father opening the barbecue joint she still runs on the South Side and naming it after her.
- Edna Stewart, who recalled the moment when Civil Rights workers first visited her restaurant, Edna's, and when the Reverend Jesse Jackson fell for her sweet potatoes.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, April 4, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
At long last, the SFA is producing a cookbook. We've thought about it. Talked about it. And, we've heard you ask the question: "Why don't you guys do this?" We listened and it's happening.
Our cookbook team has been working since last fall to figure out how the thing will look (a fun, funky, respectful riff on community cookbooks), what recipes we'll include (nothing from previously published sources or generic web sites—only the tried and true, much loved and well-used, creased and grease stained), and how we'll acknowledge contributors (we're going old school; we mean really old school—Mrs. Emily Smith of Wilmore, Kentucky—you get the picture).
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, March 21, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Interested in Southern food but find yourself geographically challenged and living above the Mason Dixon line? Never fear—Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan is here! Zingerman's is devoted to finding (and making) the best foods in the world, and they're kind enough to ship their treasures right to your door. The Roadhouse (one of several jewels in the Zingerman crown, including the Bakehouse, the Creamery, the Delicatessen, and the Coffee Company) specializes in really good American food—their description, not mine! Alex Young, the chef at the Roadhouse, wowed us all last October during the SFA symposium with one of best oyster stews we've ever tasted.
The Roadhouse is hosting a fundraiser for the Southern Foodways Alliance featuring a meal from the Mississippi Delta. We're going to cover a lot of ground for this fundraiser. Marcie Cohen Ferris, special guest and SFA board president, is going to address the southern Jewish experience. She was born and raised in the south, and her two experiences of being both Jewish and southern have shaped her career. She worked with chef Alex to create a menu reflecting Jewish foods from the Mississippi Delta.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, March 7, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
It's cold today and snowing (or about to snow) here in Mississippi. We don't get snow that often. In fact, if this forecast becomes reality it will be the first real snow Oxford has seen in five or six years. Truth be told, I'd enjoy a little snow, sort of.
The Ole Miss students are heading out of town for spring break. March Madness is upon us. My yard is full of daffodils. The tulip trees have bloomed and the rest of the trees aren't far behind. And, just yesterday I bought my first seed packet. So forgive me if I can't get completely happy about the snow. I'm ready for spring. I'm ready for a garden.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, February 29, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Arguably one of the hottest tickets in town, if not in the country, the High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction celebrates its 16th year. Last year, the auction set records as the most successful live auction in its 15-year history, bringing in revenues of more than $1.8 million.
Friday night’s gala and Saturday’s live auction are already sold out. But, there is still space available at many of the events leading up to the big finale, one we think you’ll particularly enjoy because we planned it ourselves!
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, February 22, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Georgia Organics is hosting its 11th annual conference, Quantum Leap: Taking Food & Farms Back...to the Future, February 28 to March 1 at the North West Georgia Trade and Convention Center in Dalton, Georgia.
Listen and learn as we imagine a future where farm, family, and community values merge with sustainable innovation—where thriving family farms connect with consumers at school, at work, at play. At this conference, you’ll gather the knowledge, tools, and connections needed to take your food and farms into that future. Learn about organic production, marketing, pastured livestock, local food systems, farm-to-school activities, and more from leaders in sustainable agriculture and foods.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, February 15, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Inspired by the rum infusions she was exposed to as a bartender in St. Croix, Joy Perrine has developed an entire menu of infused bourbons at Jack’s Lounge in Louisville, Kentucky. Photograph by Amy Evans
Louisville is awash in bourbon. And beer. It's a drinking person’s town, due in no small part to the state’s bourbon heritage and the city’s nickname-namesake brewery, Falls City. This is where the Old Fashioned was invented. It’s where Al Capone dodged the law during prohibition, ducking out of the Seelbach Hotel through secret passageways. And it’s where barkeeps plied their customers with rolled oysters and bean soup to keep them coming back. Louisville’s private clubs, hotel bars, and neighborhood taverns are rich with drinking history and lore, and there’s always time for another round.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Melissa Hall, February 8, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
A few months ago, just as the weather was turning cold, I waxed nostalgic about hog killing. I included some pictures of the practice and an essay from Southern Food Alliance member Evan Hatch.
At The Old South Farm Museum and Agricultural Learning Center, they don’t just talk about, write about, or photograph hog killing—they actually do it. And, if you ask nicely, they’ll let you help.
The Woodland, Georgia museum traces Southern rural life from the 1800s to the 1960s. On the property you’ll find everything from wood burning stoves to steam tractors. With acres of buildings and displays, you can spend a couple of hours looking at items that were common just decades ago. Here you can pump water and see the type of equipment used to wash clothes as well as see a working smokehouse, grind grain, spin cotton and perhaps make sausage.
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