Stories, traditions, and people at the heart of North Carolina’s cultural life.
A collection of more than 400 stories exploring the traditions, artistry, and community life of North Carolina. From foodways and material culture to tribal arts, music, and the people who carry these traditions forward, Carolina Life & Lore celebrates the richness and diversity of folklife across the state.
Last Tuesday I went to Carson Varnam’s Shellfish Market to photograph a typical day during oyster season. Around 9:30 the first of the day’s harvest arrives at the market, where they’re placed into cold storage before being sold locally or delivered to restaurants or retail markets. There are opportunities for Mikey Fulford, Carson Varnam’s grandson, […]
Where can you get fresh fish prepared by an award-winning chef? Sometimes the location may not be on the coast or a river but instead from a mobile kitchen. In downtown Wilmington, I found Chef Keith Rhodes hustling to serve customers eagerly standing in line at his food truck parked on North Fourth Street in […]
One of the best perks of doing fieldwork for the North Carolina Folklife Institute is the amazing food you run into on the road. When I arrived in Brunswick County last night for a community meeting related to a folklife survey we’re doing, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, fieldworker Steve Kruger showed […]
By Elena Rosemond-Hoerr Because it is National Pie Month, and by way of introduction, I thought I would discuss my favorite category of pies with you today, the chess. Growing up my grandmother’s holiday specialty was a chocolate chess pie, a pie so decadent that it can only be consumed “just a sliver” at a […]
by Ray Linville How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Many celebrate with traditional gifts such as sweet chocolates or red roses. Not me. I take advantage of the foodways traditions of North Carolina to make the day special. First, start with a breakfast treat that says love better than chocolate: BoBerry Biscuits from Bojangle’s, which […]
Sweet Potatoes ‘R’ Us Just how important is the sweet potato in the NC swing of things? Well, not only does it have a 501(c)3 charitable foundation and a newsletter, it has its own blog. I’m hard pressed to think of another vegetable that can make such a claim. The sweet potato is the official […]
by Ray Linville Where in North Carolina is Scottish food celebrated, and when can you find authentic Scottish food in our state? Travel no farther than to the multi-county Sandhills where many residents still celebrate Scottish heritage, particularly today – known to many as Burns Day in honor of the birth of Scottish poet Robert […]
Is sorghum molasses sweet and flavorsome for you, or is it a syrup that is sticky and sinister? Although I only occasionally eat sorghum molasses, I’m sure that I would have learned how to make it if I had grown up on a farm. It was syrup that my father grew up eating regularly, and […]
by Joy Salyers with help from Deborah Miller [Editors Note: We thought we’d revisit one of our favorite blog posts Dropping in to Say Happy New Year from December 31, 2012. We wanted to learn more about the tradition of dropping things to ring in the new year, especially some of those that take […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”7″] Born for Hard Luck A portrait of the last Black medicine-show performer, Arthur “Peg Leg Sam” Jackson, with brilliant harmonica songs, tales of hoboing, buck dances, and an authentic live medicine-show performance filmed at a North Carolina county fair in 1972. Between the Civil War and World War II, many such gifted and […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”8″] John E. “Frail” Joines was a master tale teller from Wilkes County, North Carolina, on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His hunting tales, stories from World War II, and religious narratives mirror changes that have swept away the mountain folk community in a single generation and show the character and […]
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”5″] Louise Anderson (1921-1994), the gifted African American storyteller who played Dark Sally in Tom Davenport’s children’s classic Ashpet: An American Cinderella, tells her family stories and folk tales, and recites poetry in this film taped in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in the last years of her life. She presents a powerful portrait of courage, […]
Here’s part two of our peek inside just one of our NC communities rich in tasty traditions. We hope your holidays are filled with sugar and spice and all things nice! Best, Joy & Deborah ___________________________________________ Moravian Cookies by Matthew Lardie Chances are you’ve tasted, or at least seen, the thin, ginger-snap-like cookies that show […]
From Murphy to Manteo, our state is a ribbon-wrapped highway where almost all roads lead to a tasteful discovery. Sharing the stories behind both well-known and hidden treasures, our NCFood blog invites you along with us on a tasting journey. With the holiday season well upon us, we thought our sweetest gift to you would […]
by Deborah Miller One of the things I already know I love about working here is when Joy starts a sentence with “We need to go …. ” Not one to need too much convincing, I can be ready to go in a split-second. And this time, she said “We need to go drive up […]
With the blustery weather of the last few days, it’s hard to believe that Monday was hot and humid enough to think about sweet and frozen treats. You don’t have to twist my arm very hard for ice cream, so when NC Folklife Institute Director Joy Salyers suggested a side trip over to Raleigh to […]
Are you a closet chowhound with a passion for our state’s culinary history? A connoisseur of little country cafes, old recipes, and backyard barbecues? Do you turn every road trip into a chance to learn more history, and also a chance to find a new local delicacy or a great new restaurant? If you answered […]
A couple weeks ago, I was a guest at the Hatteras fishing community’s Day at the Docks. It’s a wonderful celebration of that Outer Banks village’s fishing heritage and living traditions, and I felt deeply honored to be part of it. Originally founded after hurricane Isabel in 2003 as a day to celebrate the island’s […]
A few days after my mother’s funeral, my daughter and I stopped for breakfast at Yana’s Restaurant in Swansboro, in Onslow County. We were bound for Bear Island, the site of remote beaches and salt marshes that were among my favorite places growing up. Perched over the White Oak River, Yana’s occupies an old building that once […]
12 large dressed hard shell crabs (crack claws) 3 cups canned tomatoes ½ cup chopped onion 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 quart water (approximately) 1 tablespoon salt 6 medium white potatoes 3 tablespoons hot sauce Place crabs and claws in large kettle with water and salt. Cook over medium heat for […]
HONOR BOX PRODUCE by David Cecelski This is a produce stand on the back road from my family’s old farmhouse and the little community of Mill Creek. It’s just a stone’s throw from an old cemetery that marks the former site of my great-great-great grandfather’s home. The cemetery is in a thick pine forest now, […]
by David Cecelski “Save us some pluck,” the ladies at Fishtowne Seafood in Beaufort often tell the guys behind the counter. They want them, they mean, to save the gizzards and livers from a popular local saltwater fish called jumping mullet when they clean them for other customers who do not share their fondness for fish […]
by David Cecelski My brother and my son and I rode bicycles down to the Cape Fear River to watch the sunset tonight. The day had been hot—103 in Wilmington—and most people stayed inside well past supper. But at dusk, crowds of people came out of the shadows and gathered at the river to fish […]
by David Cecelski Last week I explored the Carolina Beach Farmers Market while I was visiting my brother and his family. It’s held every Saturday in the summertime from 8 am to 1 pm next to the town pond just south of the boardwalk, and it marks an interesting new trend in the state’s farmers […]