Food

by David Cecelski Late in the 19th century, the little rural community of Ridgeway, in Warren County, attracted immigrants from Germany,Switzerland, France, and the British Isles. They raised many kinds of fruits and berries, but Ridgeway gained a special fame for the sweetness of its cantaloupes. At its peak, Ridgeway’s farm cooperative was loading 14 railroad cars a day with cantaloupes. […]

by David Cecelski Every evening this week, my children and I have picked wild blackberries by the creek in our city park. We have filled buckets with the sweet, sweet berries. They taste so summery and good, and are so fresh, that at first we just ate handfuls of them as we stood in the […]

by David Cecelski When my daughter and I visited Durham’s Green Flea Market for the first time today, we were reminded of the lively, colorful, and exciting neighborhood mercados that you find in Mexico or El Salvador. More than a hundred mostly Latin American vendors were selling everything from CDs to baptismal gowns there. What enthralled us most, though, were the cafés, […]

by David Cecelski Tonight my son and daughter baked Irish potatoes in the hot coals left from a fire we built earlier in the day. They wrapped the potatoes in tinfoil and cooked them with fresh onions and a little butter. When they pulled them out of the coals, the tender young potatoes had a […]

by David Cecelski Today I took a friend who is a jazz lover to explore John Coltrane’s childhood world in High Point. The great jazz saxophonist and composer lived in the city from soon after his birth in 1926 until he graduated from high school in 1943. We visited his family’s old house on Underhill Street, his […]

by David Cecelski When I opened the Pakse Café’s door, I felt like I was walking into another world. Named for a city in Laos, the little café has 7 or 8 tables and a specials board written in Lao. Everybody there was speaking Lao, too. At one of the tables, a group of older men […]

by David Cecelski Yesterday I visited the annual 4-H Livestock Show and Auction in Ponzer, a rural community on the Pungo River. The children had worked all year to raise their hogs, sheep, and goats and I could see the pride in their faces. Some of the boys and girls were in middle school, but many were […]

by David Cecelski “Wash tub” fish stews are a spring-time tradition along theNeuse River.  When the shad and rockfish swim upriver to spawn, local fishermen take to the water and cooks get out their biggest pots. In the old days, that stew pot was often literally a tin wash tub. These days it’s more likely a big cast […]

by David Cecelski Last week we gathered next to the old millpond, on a little rise between the orchard and a field of purple clover. My cousin had been on the river the day before and came home with several bushels of oysters, probably the last we’ll have this winter. We stood around the fire, […]

by David Cecelski I was standing in the parking lot at Morris Barbeque in Hookerton this morning when I got to talking to the owner’s mother. She was a charming woman and she told me that her father-in-law, Willie “Pop” Morris, started this wonderful little ‘cue joint back in 1956. He had been cooking in […]

by David Cecelski   I love visiting Meredith College in Raleigh because I can walk across Hillsborough Street and explore the Al Baraka Market. Run by a very gracious gentleman from Syria, the little store carries Middle Eastern staples like olives, bulk lentils, Halal meats, and a large assortment of the region’s spices, as well as sublime delicacies such as grape molasses […]

by David Cecelski   There is a kind of an ascetic purity to eating at Bill’s Hot Dogs in little Washington. The unadorned storefront (the window says only “Bill’s Hot Dogs”), the bare shop floor (no chairs, no tables), the simplicity of the fare (hot dogs only), the bare-bones condiments (chili, onions, and mustard only—no ketchup, […]

by David Cecelski A little west of Conetoe, in Edgecombe County, there’s a fabulous little country-cooking café called Blackbeards BBQ & C-Food. You can get some of the state’s best wood-cooked barbecue there and a wonderful array of country-style vegetable side dishes. And as good as the ‘cue is, I think I like the daily specials even […]

by David Cecelski I’m sad to report that Tom Robinson died of the H1N1 (swine) flu on Friday night. He will be missed something terrible. Tom was a graceful, caring soul, with a light heart and an incandescent spirit. He was also a great fishmonger. For four decades, his Carrboro seafood market has been the […]

by David Cecelski I’m writing this on OcracokeIsland. A gale-force wind is blowing with gusts as high as 60 miles an hour. I came here to visit the N.C.Center for the Advancement of Teaching, which I did, but now I can’t leave. The ferries have all shut down because of the gale. You can barely walk outside: coming […]

by David Cecelski Last week, on her 81st birthday, Mrs. Wanda Willis made a big pot of her famous stew beef and rutabagas with cornmeal dumplings. She lives on HarkersIsland and she made it for a lunch gathering at the island’s CoreSoundWaterfowlMuseum andHeritageCenter. She’s part of a hardworking crew of the museum’s volunteers who can whip up a few hundred […]

by David Cecelski When I was driving through eastern North Carolina today, I had a come-to-the-altar experience at a little barbecue shack inGreeneCounty. It’s called Jason Grill & BBQ and it’s in the tiny community of Jason on a very rural stretch of NC 903 between Snow Hill and La Grange. The Jason Grill doesn’t look like much. […]

by David Cecelski This is a recipe for a kind of venison stew that is popular in hunting camps from the Roanoke River bottomlands to the Great Smoky Mountains.   Ingredients   2 lb. venison 1/2 lb. kielbasa, sliced 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil ½ cup chopped onion ¾ cup chopped celery 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 […]

by David Cecelski Today Mexican and Central American immigrants here in Durham have been celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany. In Christian tradition, Epiphany, or Día de Reyes (Day of Kings), is the day that the three Magi, or Wise Men, reached Bethlehem and first paid homage to the infant Jesus. Epiphany is one of the most important days […]

by David Cecelski I was driving on a very rural stretch of NC 181 when I came to a little Mennonite settlement between Vanceboro and Grifton. As I understand it, approximately 40 Mennonite families have made their homes in that part of CravenCounty. They have established a church, a school, and a general store that carries […]