SFA Past Events
2006 – The Gulf South
The Gulf South – Tracing the Arc of Eats from Texas to Florida
October 19-22, 2006
The ninth annual Southern Foodways Symposium explored the Gulf South, racing an arc of eats from Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
We dug deep into the subject of regionalism. With the coast as our backdrop, we pondered where the South gives way to the Caribbean. We studied wetland loss and projected the future of the Cajun Coast. Ethnicity came into play, too. We examined the lives of Cubans in Ybor City, Florida, and the Vietnamese in Biloxi, Mississippi. And we heard from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Tretheway about the African American rituals and traditions of her youth. We learned the provenance of gazpachi salad, the pressed poor boy, and West Indies salad. In short, we covered the waterfront, to render the Gulf a feast of words and foods. SFA screened Working the Miles.
We, of course, ate well. Green gumbo from Leah Chase of New Orleans. Banh Mi, known to some as Vietnamese Po’Boys, too. Breakfast casseroles of oysters and eggs. Biscuits slathered with farm-churned butter. Lunch was a tribute to Eugene Walter, the man John Egerton called “the once and future king of Southern cookery writers.” There were snacks of bacon peanut brittle, nibbles of sweet potato-blanketed catfish, and sips of sparkling wine and Lynchburg lemonade.
Florida’s Forgotten Coast
May 18-20, 2006
The Southern Foodways Alliance traveled south to the port city of Apalachicola, Florida, to focus on culinary life and legacy of the Gulf South. We paid homage to the men and women who have long worked the water, tonging for oysters, casting nets for shrimp and fish. John Gorrie, the local doctor who invented the ice machine and was a pioneer in refrigeration and air conditioning, got his due. We tasted Tupelo honey, smoked mullet, and oysters spiked with Tabasco. We grunted for worms and savored what the South's best chefs can do with the South's best seafood.
Camp Nashville
August 11-12, 2006
In concert with the East Nashville Tomato Festival on August 12, SFA offered Camp Nashville, featuring smooth-as-silk Tennessee whiskey and hickory-smoked Tennessee barbecue; tomato-themed parades and catfish-stuffed BLTs; hot, hot chicken and cold, cold beer. Twangy music and smart talking, too. A few lucky adventurers got a special access tour of the Jack Daniel Distillery down in Lynchburg.
We larded the schedule with group events and choose-your-own path fun, all leading up to a grand finale dinner at Arnold's, arguably Nashville's best meat-n-three.
- For the final schedule of events, click here.
Camp Athens: An Edible Education in Oilcloth and White Linen
April 8, 2006
SFA hosted Camp Athens: An Edible Education in Oilcloth and White Linen, on April 8, 2006. Meals and lectures explored connections between traditional meat-and-three cooking of institutions like Wilson’s Soul Food and the haute Southern cuisine of boîtes like Five & Ten. Also on tap: Bloody Marys to start the day. Music-themed and art-themed edible open houses. Talks by scholars like Jim Cobb.
Some folks headed home in the early evening, but late night revelers opted for a post-Forty Watt grease feed that conjured the universal appeal of college day debauchery.
Host chef was Hugh Acheson.
Guest chefs were Ben and Karen Barker, Magnolia Grill, Durham, NC; Sonya Jones, Sweet Auburn Bread, Atlanta, GA; Scott Peacock, Watershed, Decatur, GA; and Frank Stitt, Highlands, Birmingham, AL.
- For the final schedule of events, click here.
Blackberry Farm
January 7, 2006
At the 2006 Blackberry Farm Taste of the South Gala, we dined on Kentucky pumpkin soup, sumac braised pork belly, and fruit cake. Guest chefs included Edward Lee, 610 Magnolia, Louisville, KY; Sean Brock, Capitol Grille, Nashville, TN; Linton Hopkins, Restaurant Eugene, Atlanta, GA; Sam McGann, The Blue Point, Duck, NC; John Besh, Restaurant August, New Orleans, LA; and Maggie Davidson, Blackberry Farm, Walland, TN.
- Click here for the menu.
