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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶
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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Kentucky BBQ

ORAL HISTORY

Irene Rich

When the SFA visited Irene Rich in 2009, she was celebrating the one-year anniversary of Peak Brothers’ reopening after a devastating fire. Her father and uncle, both World War II veterans, originally opened the restaurant in 1948. They served barbecue and beer to a mostly male clientele during the week, converting the space into a dance hall on Friday and Saturday nights. Irene and her sister and brothers have been working at the restaurant since they were teenagers. Peak Brothers is best known for its barbecue hams, which customers purchase whole for the holidays by the thousands. Lately, though, Irene has been experimenting with new menu items such as barbecue pizza and a barbecue sundae.

Date of interview:
2009-06-12 00:00

Interviewer:
Lisa Powell

Photographer:
Lisa Powell

Download Transcript

“

I guess everybody in our family has worked here from forever. We were brought up and my sister and I, we didn’t get to work here for a long time because Daddy didn’t figure like it was appropriate for a lady to work here at that time. ~ Irene Rich

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