Apples and a Pioneer Cabin in Cedar Mountain
By Laura Fieselman There is a front porch, rocking chairs, and a wood-burning cookstove. But look closely and you will see there are also blowtorches, an electric food processor, and plastic mixing bowls. It is the Pioneer Cabin at the Green River Preserve, a summer camp for the bright, curious, and creative in Cedar Mountain, […]
Chicharron Gorditas
by Elijah Gaddis By way of introduction, to me and to this post, I should confess something that all of my friends know: I became a folklorist in part because it allows me to eat. Seeking out legendary barbecue places, hole in the wall taquerias, and roadside vendors all falls under the guise of what […]
Festival of the Peach: Candor Is the Scene
by Ray Linville Communities that spread over a multi-county area often unite each year for a common celebration. For the N.C. peach community, that event occurs on the third Saturday in July in Candor, a small town in Montgomery County that brings everyone in the peach-growing Sandhills region together. Although Candor is the home of […]
Hiffikickles
By Deborah Miller It takes little more than a hot July day to take me back to one of my favorite summer memories when my Grandmother would bring a pot of water to boil before telling us to run out to the garden for some “roasting ears.” My younger sister misheard that as “rosemarys” and […]
Heirloom Seeds and Plants: Preserving State Food Traditions
by Ray Linville Do you wish that you could grow the same vegetables that Grandma grew? The flavors that she tasted and the nutrients that she enjoyed are legendary, and many of us reminisce about how we miss the flavors of yesteryear. Because this desire to appreciate traditional foods is growing, a cultural movement to […]
Sonker & Stack Pie
by Deborah Miller You may have heard of stack cake from the mountains … you may know that mullet roe is from eastern NC … but stack pie and sonker? Here are two recent media recognitions by The New York Times on dishes specific to certain areas of our state. North Carolina Public Radio – […]
French Broad Chocolate Lounge
by Matt Lardie French Broad Chocolates is part of the exploding craft food movement that reminds us of an overlooked aspect of US material culture – the long tradition of artisan food production. Thank you, Matt, for driving west and sharing your experience. ~ Deborah Miller, NC Food editor. This past January I shot up […]
Finding the Source of Your Food
by Ray Linville When you eat in a restaurant, do you think about the farms that provide your meal? An excellent way to visit the source of your food is the annual farm tours conducted in our state. Earlier this year I explored several farms as part of the Piedmont Farm Tour, held on the […]
June is North Carolina Blueberry Month
By Frances Dowell The civilized blueberry moved to North Carolina in the early half of the 20th century. Wild blueberries have been growing in the piney woods of the eastern shores since the beginning of time (or thereabouts), but it wasn’t until one Harold Huntington of Montclair, NJ, cleared a thousand acres in Pender County […]
Dan Dunkel’s First Brunswick Stew
by Joy Salyers On May 19, my family and I headed up to Person County to the 125th anniversary of Berry’s Grove Baptist Church. Berry’s Grove is on Berry Road, in what is either Timberlake or Little River, depending on whether you’re trying to mail something there or drive to it. Being […]
Coconut Cake – North Carolina Heritage Recipes Project, #1
by Matt Lardie Your mother’s spaghetti and meatballs. Uncle Joe’s famous chili. Grandma’s pecan pie. Heirloom recipes are memories as much as they are a set of instructions. They can transport us to another time and place. Treasured recipes passed down from generation to generation almost become members of our families; they tell our stories […]
Mount Olive Pickle Festival
by Elena Rosemond-Hoerr A few months ago I was standing in line for a Britt’s Donut in Carolina Beach with my cousin Mary. For those that have indulged in a Britt’s you’ll know two things- they are insanely delicious and the line is out of control. As the minutes inched by and we moved closer […]
Grilling on the Side of the Highway
by Ray Linville What makes our state so special for grilling ribs? Most of us can remember our first cookout when someone in the family, neighborhood, or church served home-cooked ribs. They were so tender that the meat literally fell off the bones. The homemade sauce was delicious, and often the recipe was a secret […]
Tang Comes to Yadkin County
by Deborah Miller Gernie and Rachel Wagoner, AKA my grandparents, had a small tobacco farm in Yadkin County. Brooks Crossroads, to be exact, a scant 7 ½ miles west of Yadkinville. And on this farm they had a duck … and an old mule, chickens, a couple of grapevines, a huge vegetable garden, and a […]
Pomegranate Kitchen, Durham, NC
by Frances O’Roark Dowell Imagine a kitchen that’s not unlike your own, only bigger and better equipped, with a cash box on the counter and a menu on the wall. Imagine the air thick with ginger, cumin and cinnamon. Now imagine a friend—your most hospitable, generous friend—standing before a flotilla of simmering pots, calling out […]
Mama’s Tea
by Jefferson Currie My mama, Jerri, doesn’t really like ice tea much (I know that most spell it iced tea, but with that d and t next to each other, that’s not really what it sounds like), and I realize that to some southerners that is a kind of sacrilege, so it always struck me […]
Home of Collard Sandwich Expands on Soul Food Day
by Ray Linville A collard sandwich is not the typical attraction to establish a regional reputation. But it is for Chef Kenneth Collins and his UPro restaurant in Aberdeen, NC, where he has developed an extensive following of appreciative customers. The star attraction of his business begins with fresh, hand-cut collards. The greens are cooked […]
GRITS with BUGS? OBX SHRIMP and GRITS
by Elizabeth Weigand Elizabeth Weigand is one of my favorite food writers. She’s so good at what she does that I can darn near taste whatever she’s writing about as well as exploring the culture and lore behind it. I was so excited when she agreed to let us use a blog post she wrote […]
Max Huang’s Last Bao
by Bernie Herman Part of our goal is to let you know about some of the diverse voices we hear … and sometimes somebody simply says it so well on their own blog that we can’t wait to share it with you! Max Huang’s Last Bao by Bernie Herman Originally posted on Meditations on the […]
Sometimes Community is Just a Piece of Cake
Here at NC Food we write about all aspects of our state’s traditional foodways. We tell potential bloggers to think of food as communication – what growing, preparing, and eating in certain ways says about a community’s traditions, history, and values. This week I saw an example of community values emerging through food in a […]
Asian Greens at the Market
Trend: Asian Veggies at North Carolina Farmers’ Markets This spring you might notice a few new faces at your local farmers’ market. Sure you’ll see spinach, arugula, eggs, and asparagus, but tucked in between these market mainstays you might also notice bok choy, yu choy, tatsoi, mizuna, even Japanese eggplant. These Asian varieties have begun […]
Carson Varnam’s Shellfish Market
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, […]
Local Seafood: Kitchen on the Roll
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 […]
Oysters in the Parking Lot
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 […]