SFA Past Events
2003 – Appalachia
Appalachia: The Land and the Larder
October 2-5, 2003
The sixth annual Southern Foodways Symposium explored the people, places, and food traditions of Appalachia.
Guests from the Department of Public History at the University of West Georgia taught us how to incorporate oral histories and photography into foodways exhibitions and festivals. We celebrated the arts with a staging of Nanny and Blake, an original one-act play set in the Mountain South and written by Southern Studies student Kendra Myers. Greasy Beans, a five-piece band that fuses bluegrass and newgrass with old–time influences took stage at Taylor Grocery. And, on Saturday afternoon, the SFA screened its first documentary film, Saving Seeds, a tribute to 2003 Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award winner Bill Best.
Ronni Lundy oriented us to the Mountain, and Elizabeth Engelhardt schooled us on beaten biscuit. Marilou Awiakta introduced us to Selu, the Cherokee Corn Mother, and Joe Dabney shared a nip of mountain spirits. But as Rick Bragg reminded us, we should never forget the food. Gustatory highlights included a lunch of shuck beans, stack cakes, and cornbread. There were fish fries and pimiento cheese tastings, a brotherly battle of fried pies with Robert and John Stehling, and a sampling of some of the best country ham the South has to offer.
Asheville, North Carolina, and Environs
August 1-3, 2003
The SFA explored the rich traditions of Appalachian food during our third annual Field Trip to Asheville, North Carolina. We experienced the diversity of the Southern mountains. Savored smoked trout and sweet potatoes and fresh-from-the-oven biscuits. Sipped Cabernet Franc and debated twist caps versus pull corks. Tapped our toes to the sounds of a dulcimer and the musical stylings of Tim O’Brian at the Orange Peel Social Aid and Pleasure Club. We trekked across the countryside, to Sun Burst Trout Farm and the Hickory Nut Gap Farm. And, on Sunday, John and Julie Stehling of Asheville’s Early Girl Eatery sent us off with a breakfast feast they prepared at Warren Wilson College.
- For the event brochure, click here.
