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Welcome to the Southern Foodways Alliance -- an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture with headquarters at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi.
The SFA documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South. We set a common table where black and white, rich and poor -- all who gather -- may consider our history and our future in a spirit of reconciliation.
A radio show format compilation of recollections, recipes, and great music, brought to you by Tabasco and the SFA.
SFA members are volunteering time and labor to rebuild Willie Mae's Scotch House (among other culinary institutions) in and around New Orleans. Click here to see press, project details and photographs.
The SFA is working to preserve the history and foodways of the American South through its Oral History Initiative.
Visit our online archive, which includes projects that document barbecue, gumbo, tamales, and more.
The stories, poems, and essays gathered in Ronni Lundy's Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South were born along the winding roads of Appalachia, in the vales of the Ozarks, and in the flatlands beyond, where mountain people traveled in the hillbilly diaspora. Here, wisdom is gleaned in coal-mining camps, at roadside vegetable stands, at dinners on church grounds, and on shady front porches.
Friday, October 3
SFA VIKING RANGE LECTURE SERIES AVAILABLE AS PODCAST
The SFA Viking Range Lecture, hosted at the University of Mississippi on September 10, is now available as a podcast episode. Visit here, and click the link for the Viking Lecture Series to hear it online. Or visit here and opt to subscribe to SFA podcasts on iTunes. Pictured above: SFA's Melissa Hall, UM professor and lecture interlocutor Dr. Katie McKee, guest author Bich Minh Nguyen, SFA director John T Edge, and guest author Monique Truoung.
| posted by Mary Beth at 1:39 PM
The Hospitality Management Program at the University of Mississippi presents Square Toast for Scholarships on Monday, October 6th, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. on the Oxford Square.Square Toast for Scholarships is a food and wine tasting event that also features a silent auction, music, and more. With Square Toast for Scholarships, several of Oxford's favorite restaurants and retail shops are opening their doors and hearts to raise scholarship money for students in the Hospitality Management program at Ole Miss.
To make an online purchase of tickets or donations go here.
For more information or to contribute to the silent auction try:
sqrtoast@olemiss.edu. | posted by John T Edge at 1:01 PM
Tuesday, September 30
ANOTHER GREAT LOSS IN APALACHICOLA
A couple of weeks ago we shared news of the passing of oyster tong maker Albert "Corky" Richards. Today we learned of the passing of oyster tag printer and proprietor of the Franklin County Press, Genaro "Jiggs" Zingarelli, pictured above. From The Times (Apalachicola & Carrabelle): For over six decades, the Franklin County Press hummed with the sounds of printing and conversation.
Monday through Friday, the antique presses came to life, roaring over the steady chatter of old friends who gathered each morning to talk politics, economics and whatever else came to mind.
Today, the presses are silent and the chairs, empty.
On the door, a floral wreath marks the passage of a man and an era in Apalachicola's history.
Genaro "Jiggs" Zingarelli, the Franklin County Press' founder and proprietor, passed away on Sept. 10 in Port St. Joe.
He was 93.
* * *
Read the rest of this beautiful tribute to the man and his work here.
Read our oral history interview with Jiggs here.
| posted by Amy C Evans at 8:46 AM
Monday through Friday, the antique presses came to life, roaring over the steady chatter of old friends who gathered each morning to talk politics, economics and whatever else came to mind.
Today, the presses are silent and the chairs, empty.
On the door, a floral wreath marks the passage of a man and an era in Apalachicola's history.
Genaro "Jiggs" Zingarelli, the Franklin County Press' founder and proprietor, passed away on Sept. 10 in Port St. Joe.
He was 93.
* * *
Read the rest of this beautiful tribute to the man and his work here.
Read our oral history interview with Jiggs here.
Friday, September 12
FIELD TO TABLE FESTIVAL AT BILTMORE ESTATE, SEPTEMBER 19-28
FIELD TO TABLE FESTIVAL
BILTMORE ESTATE -- ASHEVILLE, NC
SEPTEMBER 19-28, 2008
BILTMORE ESTATE -- ASHEVILLE, NC
SEPTEMBER 19-28, 2008
Experience the connection between farmer, chef, and winemaker at this new food and wine festival. From butter churning and beekeeping, to 30-minute sommelier classes and the musings of foodwriters including NPR's Roy Blount, Jr., you'll have a delicious time. This event is included in the regular price of Biltmore admission.
Explore the "field" aspect of this festival, learning how plants and animals are raised, used, and developed into food. Also learn the story behind Biltmore's historical and ongoing legacy of sustainable agriculture. Visit the winery to explore the "table" part the festival. See how produce from the farm is prepared, transformed, and enjoyed. Enjoy cooking demonstrations with Biltmore chefs, artisans, children's grape stomps, red wine and chocolate seminars, a 30-minute sommelier class, and cookbook signings.
Learn about food, cooking, and wine from passionate foodies as they wax poetic about the joys of homemade biscuits, North Carolina wines, and other regional legacies. Speakers include notables from the Southern Foodways Alliance, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, and celebrated community figures.
For a complete schedule of events, click here. | posted by Mary Beth at 8:25 AM
CULTURES OF REBUILDING IN POST-KATRINA NEW ORLEANS
Mr. Ramsey's suit for Mardi Gras Day 2006 commemorated the lost history of the Corner Bar. The names of all the old bars that no longer exist post-Katrina are listed on his suit. Courtesy of photographer, Courtney Egan, and Hurricane Digital Memory Bank.The Cultures of Rebuilding in Post-Katrina New Orleans
November 6-8, 2008
November 6-8, 2008
The Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies, the University of New Orleans Graduate School, and the Louisiana State Museum are collaborating with graduate students from Cambridge University for a conference that seeks to address the complex interplay between culture, heritage, and the rebuilding process. Timed to coincide with the three-year anniversary, the conference assumes that many of the primary rebuilding efforts will have been in place long enough to merit sustained analysis and critique. Taken broadly, we ask: how are culture and cultural heritage transformed, in both material and immaterial ways, following a natural disaster? How do culture and cultural heritage contribute to the rebuilding of a society following a disaster, and what are the processes by which culture and cultural heritage themselves are rebuilt? For more information on this event, including how to submit a paper for consideration, visit http://history.uno.edu/crnola.cfm
| posted by Mary Beth at 8:05 AM
Thursday, September 11
ALBERT "CORKY" RICHARDS, OYSTER TONG MAKER, DIES
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of Albert "Corky" Richards, oyster tong maker and part of our oral history project documenting Florida's Forgotten Coast, who passed away in July at the age of 66 after a battle with lung cancer. From The Times (Apalachicola & Carrabelle):In his life, Albert "Corky" Richards built oyster tongs, furniture for million dollar homes and everything in between.
Self-taught, self-made and self-reliant, the former fisherman crafted work that mirrored his character - frank, straightforward and unpretentious.
He used the finest materials, favoring centuries-old deadhead cypress pulled from the Apalachicola River, which he admired for its tight, straight grain and resiliency.
Nothing gave Richards greater pleasure than a job that challenged his imagination and put his skills to work.
He left the slap-dash work to others.
"You could always tell his work by the quality of what he did," remembered his wife, Margaret. "The quality is what stood out, the beauty and the quality."
After a long battle with lung cancer, Richards, 66, passed away on July 8 at the Apalachicola home he built with sons Rodney and Buddy.
The many timeless, well-crafted pieces Richards left behind serve as monuments to his life as a master craftsman.
* * *
Read the rest of this beautiful tribute to the man and his work here.
Read our oral history interview with Corky here.
| posted by Amy C Evans at 3:04 PM
Self-taught, self-made and self-reliant, the former fisherman crafted work that mirrored his character - frank, straightforward and unpretentious.
He used the finest materials, favoring centuries-old deadhead cypress pulled from the Apalachicola River, which he admired for its tight, straight grain and resiliency.
Nothing gave Richards greater pleasure than a job that challenged his imagination and put his skills to work.
He left the slap-dash work to others.
"You could always tell his work by the quality of what he did," remembered his wife, Margaret. "The quality is what stood out, the beauty and the quality."
After a long battle with lung cancer, Richards, 66, passed away on July 8 at the Apalachicola home he built with sons Rodney and Buddy.
The many timeless, well-crafted pieces Richards left behind serve as monuments to his life as a master craftsman.
* * *
Read the rest of this beautiful tribute to the man and his work here.
Read our oral history interview with Corky here.
Wednesday, September 10
CONFERENCE CALLS FOR PAPERS; DEADLINE OCT. 15
Call for Papers8th Annual Louisiana Conference on Literature, Language and Culture
Hilton Garden Inn ~ Lafayette, Louisiana
March 5-7, 2009
Conference Theme: "Beyond Pleasure: The Force of Desire in Text and Culture"
Desire is central to human pursuits, and the determination to understand its function continues to drive inquiries into how we think, what we make and do, and what makes us who we are as individuals, families, cultures, and nations. Contemporary scholarship attests to a continuing preoccupation with desire and a commitment to laying bare its cultural machinations.
In one form or another, desire acts across forms of media, from novels to the network news, and even in the most "scientific" of research studies. Narrative is driven by desire, and literary texts and other cultural artifacts testify to the desires of those who write, compose, or imagine them. Yet desire also exceeds expressivity, driving not only the work of imagination and composition, but also emerging in the actions and attitudes of those who read, use, or make meaning of them throughout their existence in the public sphere. Not only manifest in an author's choices, desire is equally apparent in the processes of publication, in the systems of exchange which give it value, and in the imaginations of readers.
Meanwhile communities develop around shared desires and the practice of traditions determines how each new generation will reconcile its own desires with the desires of those who came before. The diversity of contemporary approaches to the examination of desire has grown in scope from purely psychological analysis to include projects which probe the personal, the political, the economic, and even the technological.
Submission of Abstracts
The conference welcomes the submissions of 350-500 word abstracts on the topic of desire from the following fields: Literary Studies, Travel Literature, Rhetoric and Composition, Creative Writing (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama, and travel writing), Folklore, Linguistics, Modern Languages, History, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Critical Theory, Cognitive Science, Cybernetics and Information Sciences.
For more information, write langlit2009@louisiana.edu. Submission deadline is October 15, 2008. | posted by Mary Beth at 4:08 PM
Friday, September 5
SFA VIKING RANGE LECTURE SERIES, SEPTEMBER 10 AT 6:30 P.M.
Discovering Identity Through Food
Tupelo Room Barnard Observatory University of Mississippi
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 10, 2008
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Each year, the SFA in partnership with the Viking Range Corporation, will present the Viking Range Lecture Series featuring writers, chefs, poets, or artists. Each lecturer, using food as a vehicle, will explore a greater understanding of self, community, culture, or art.
In this inaugural year of the lecture series, we are pleased to bring two noteable authors to campus: Bich Minh Nguyen and Monique Truong. Nguyen and Truong will read from their work and will discuss the discovery and exploration of identity through food. Katie McKee, McMullan Associate Professor Southern Studies and associate professor of English, will serve as interlocutor for this discussion.
Bich Minh Nguyen received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and currently teaches creative nonfiction, fiction, and Asian American Literature at Purdue University. She lives in Chicago and West Lafayette, Indiana, with her husband, Porter Shreve. She is the author of Stealing Buddha's Dinner which received the PEN/Jerard Award from the PEN American Center. The memoir was also recognized as a Chicago Tribune best book of 2007, a Kiriyama Prize notable book and a Book Sense pick. Nguyen writes about growing up in a Vietnamese household in an "All-American" city in the deep 1980s. She shares her often poignant tale of becoming American through junk food, classic children's literature, and 80's pop radio.
Monique Truong is coeditor of the anthology Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry and Prose. The Book of Salt, her first novel, was inspired by a brief mention of an Indochinese cook in The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book. Monique Truong was born in Saigon in 1968 and moved to the United States at age six. She graduated from Yale University and the Columbia University School of Law, going on to specialize in intellectual property. The Book of Salt, a national bestseller, was awarded the 2003 Bard Fiction Prize, the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, and the Young Lions Fiction Award, among other honors. Granting Truong an Award of Excellence, the Vietnamese American Studies Center at San Francisco State University called her "a pioneer in the field, as an academic, an advocate, and an artist." Truong now lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The SFA Viking Range Lecture series is free and open to the public. | posted by Mary Beth at 12:59 PM
Monday, August 25
NEW BOUDIN & GUMBO PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD
Boudin maker Beverly Giardelli of C. Hebert's Slaughter House & Meat Market - Abbeville, LAPhoto by Sara Roahen, 2008
Last year we began working with writer and SFA board member Sara Roahen to collect more of the stories behind the food. Sara spent weeks roaming Louisiana, talking up cooks and meat market owners in an effort to add more oral histories to our Boudin and Gumbo Trail documentary projects. This year she's back in the field--and back home in New Orleans--adding even more content to these two culinary trails. By the spring of 2009, we hope to double the number of interviews for each project, making these two iconic Louisiana foods some of the most thoroughly documented traditions in our archive. Until then, take some time to look at some of Sara's photos from the road on our Flickr page.
Monday, August 18
CHOW DOWN AT THE ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER
On Sunday, September 14, 2008, the Atlanta History Center invites
visitors of all ages to CHOW DOWN! A Southern Foodways Festival. From Noon to 5:00 p.m., guests enjoy an afternoon of activities exploring the heritage of the regionally diverse food cultures greatly influenced by the traditions of the Native American, African American,
and Northern European communities. There will be crafts, cooking demonstrations, garden tours, and a presentations by familiar SFA faces: Jessica Harris, Angie Mosier, and John T Edge. Also on the program is Rayna Green, curator at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. The program is free for AHC members, and included in the price of museum admission for non-members. For more information or a schedule of events, visit the Atlanta History Center online. | posted by Mary Beth at 8:32 AM
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