Christmas Past at NC Food
This December in NC Food, we’ll be bringing you some of our favorite holiday posts from winters past. Whether you’re gearing up for Hanukkah or Christmas, catching your breath after a festive Diwali, or preparing to observe Kwanzaa or Mawlid, we bet that food is an important part of your holiday season. Today, let’s revisit […]
Cataloochee Prune Cake
by Sarah Bryan In some ways the border between the Carolinas is fluid. The two largest towns that are on or a few miles from the state line—Charlotte and Myrtle Beach—seem mismatched with their respective states. Charlotte could be mistaken for a bustling, shiny, businesslike version of the self-image of the state to the […]
Ramp Seasoning
While I’ve been enjoying the sun of the last two days — walking down to the river by my house (accompanied by my two cats who stalk about like they think they are local bobcats), and especially enjoying the spectacular sunsets — my sister in Des Moines has been posting about the first major snow […]
Pickle Willie Cinnamon Cucumber Rings
by Joy Salyers On October 27th, I headed to Sophia, NC just outside Asheboro for the Resourceful Communities annual convening. I took along Program and Development Director Evan Hatch, and as we drove through the absolutely stunning fall foliage of the Uwharries region of the state, I tried to explain to him what a treat he was in […]
Apple Brandy Beef
by John Batchelor Seth and Jenn Church have operated Apple Brandy Beef since they graduated from college in 2004. Seth grew up on the family farm, then went to North Carolina State University, where he earned a degree in agriculture business management. He met his wife, Jenn, at N.C. State. Her degree is in […]
Making Do With Fall Apples
by Joy Salyers I took my children with me to the North Carolina Folklore Society meeting in Cullowhee, NC October 9 and 10. I was confident that we would encounter learning opportunities to rival a day of school. We drove first to the Musuem of the Cherokee Indian, where they got Jerry Wolfe’s autograph, sat […]
The 3 Bs of Snacky Time
by Evan Hatch Snacky time exists not on conventional timepieces, but everyone knows when it is. And when snacky time strikes, snacky place is the only destination. For NC Folk staff, snacky place was the baked goods aisle at the BP station’s Family Fare convenience store at the corner of Hillandale Drive and […]
Scuppernongs and Other Muscadines Are Ready
by Ray Linville It’s scuppernong time. The historic grape is ripe and ready across the state in grocery stores, at roadside stands, and from u-pick-it vineyards—along with other varieties of the muscadine. Autumn means it’s time to appreciate and enjoy these indigenous grapes. They sustained Native Americans, European explorers and colonists, enslaved […]
Pat Franklin’s Mama’s Banana Pudding
by Leanne E. Smith When Pat Franklin buys fifty pounds of bananas at one time the second week in June, the cashiers at Ingles grocery store in Marshall, North Carolina, give her funny looks. What could someone possibly do with the contents of a cart loaded with bunches of bananas, boxes of Nilla wafers and vanilla […]
Big Oak Drive In & BBQ
by Deborah Miller A long weekend on Emerald Isle was in the works and as visions of sun, sand, and seafood swam in my imagination, a light bulb moment pushed through the haze of vacation anticipation. NC Food was about to publish a guest post by John E. Batchelor, author of Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants […]
Waxing Fig-Tastic: The 2nd Annual August Fig Festival on Ocracoke Island
by Leanne E. Smith It was a fluke that the 2014 Fig Festival was held in August. The fig cake bake-off that had been part of the July 4th celebration was postponed last year by a few weeks because of Hurricane Arthur. It was a success, so the organizers with the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association tried it […]
Collard Shack Revisited
by Ray Linville A trip to the small town of Ayden is usually for wood-cooked barbecue because it’s the home to two of the state’s premier BBQ establishments – Skylight Inn and Bum’s Restaurant. However, when I traveled there, I was searching for The Collard Shack as much as I was for chopped whole hog barbecue. […]
B&G Pies
by Joy Salyers I don’t usually think of a gas station right off the interstate as the go-to place for regionally made treats. But the corner BP Station’s Family Fare Convenience Store by our Durham office stocks a surprising array of North Carolina food products, including pork skins from Henderson, and Apple Uglies from Salisbury. […]
Chefs of the Coast: Meet Chef Thierry Moity of Caprice Bistro in Wilmington
by John E. Batchelor Note: We love seafood! So much that we practically licked our lips all afternoon when we received a copy of John E. Batchelor’s newest offering Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants & Recipes from the North Carolina Coast. John agreed to a special post for NC Food. We hope you enjoy it […]
Platsindi
by Tat’yana Berdan My mom doesn’t really use recipes. The few she has, she keeps written down in an old journal she brought with her when my family immigrated to Charlotte, North Carolina from Tiraspol, Moldova 14 years ago. When I asked her for a recipe to feature in this blog, she told me I had […]
Where Food Is More Than Only Something to Eat
by Ray Linville Food is more than simply sustenance. Kitchens are more than places to prepare and eat meals. No place is better for demonstrating the value in society of food and kitchens than The King’s Kitchen in Charlotte, NC. As its customers enjoy the menu of the day, the unemployed, underemployed, difficult to employ, […]
A Recipe for Chess Cake
By Lea Efird Almost all of my earliest memories take place in Albemarle, North Carolina in my grandparents’ old house, one they sold when I was four or so. I remember constantly playing with my cousin Hunter, only 10 weeks older than me, as if he were my twin brother (we did look just alike, […]
Egg Rolls and Mi Quang
by Anna Scott (edited by Tat’yana Bedan) Linda Pham and her son Thanh (or “T” for short) moved to Whiteville, North Carolina from Da Nang on the south central coast of Vietnam almost 20 years ago. She is now an owner of a successful nail business downtown. Pham is Buddhist and attends a temple in […]
A Blueberry Ramble in Burgaw
by Leanne E. Smith At the 12th annual N.C. Blueberry Festival in Burgaw, NC on June 20, 2015, the temperature at 9 a.m. was above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, with a heat index of nearly ninety—but it’s worth a few hours of southeastern North Carolina humidity on the third Saturday in June for a morning stroll […]
Starving for Food or Fellowship
by Malinda Dunlap Fillingim If you ever find yourself starving for food or fellowship in North Carolina, find a church that’s hosting a dinner on the grounds, otherwise known as a potluck or covered-dish supper. You won’t leave hungry. I came across a bound index card collection of recipes compiled by the women of Wilmington’s […]
Keeping Wild Foods in Our Culinary Culture
by Ray Linville Is cooking with wild foods out of place in today’s modern society? Because it’s so old-fashioned, I was surprised by how many kids had entered the Wild Food Cooking Contest in Richmond County. It’s the event of the spring in Ellerbe, NC, when youth and adults show off their skills for cooking […]
Red Rooster: Something to Crow About in Stokes County
by Malinda Fillingim Back in 1977, my senior year in high school, I worked at Hicks Pharmacy in Walnut Cove, NC. I knew what ailed everyone and what medicines they took to help cure those ails. But, as an added bonus when they were short staffed, I also got to help out at the in-house […]
Conrad & Hinkle. Service with a smile.
by Evan Hatch Lexington, North Carolina is rightfully praised for its contributions to the North Carolina Barbecue tradition. Lexington style is a well know contender for the best barbecue in North Carolina, indeed the entire south. Much ink and blood have spilled over the years in an effort to establish the reigning barbecue king in […]
A (Wet) Day on the Farm-Greenlands Farm
by Malinda Dunlap Fillingim There’s no place better to be than on a North Carolina farm, even on a rainy day. That’s how I felt about my recent visit to the 18-acre Greenlands Organic Farm in Bolivia, right off Midway Road in Brunswick County, NC. The rain did not damper my appreciation for the petting […]