In July 1999, well-known Southern writer John Egerton convened a two-day meeting of 50 people in Alabama to talk about Southern cuisine. Egerton's book, Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History, had become an instant classic after being published in 1987. In the fall of 1984, Egerton and a small group of colleagues began a mission that would see them visit 335 restaurants in 11 states from the Carolinas to Arkansas prior to the book's publication.
Egerton, who died last November at age 78, later recalled: "By the time we had finished our travels and gotten the book into print, several of the eateries had already gone out of business." But the things he had learned about the importance of Southern food lived on. It was Egerton who later identified the six major food groups of Southern cooks as sugar, cream, butter, eggs, salt and bacon grease.
"At least twice in our history, in the eras of the Civil War and the Great Depression, a majority of the South's population came face to face with the terrible reality of hunger and starvation," he wrote. "From those times hence, memory and habit have led succeeding multitudes to eat, drink and be merry--thinking, perhaps, that tomorrow the hard times might return, and they might die. Given such circumstances, our food has been a powerful reflection of our history, an open window on the daily joys and sorrows of our lives, a constant reminder of who we are and where we came from. The appeal of Southern cooking transcends the barriers of race, class, sex, religion and politics. Here in this historically unique region of the United States--unique for many reasons, good and bad--food has been perhaps the most positive element of our collective character, an inspiring symbol of reconciliation, healing and union."
In his letter inviting people to that 1999 meeting at Birmingham, Egerton said: "The time has come for all of us--traditional and nouvelle cooks and diners, upscale and down-home devotees, meat eaters and vegetarians, drinkers and abstainers, growers and processors, scholars and foodlorists, gourmands and the health conscious, women and men, blacks and whites and other identity groups, one and all--to sit down and break bread together around one great Southern table. We all know that this is the finest regional food in America, yesterday and today and forever. Here is our chance to keep it vibrant and to share it with one another and the rest of the world."
What came out of the meeting was the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) , a nonprofit organization associated with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. The SFA is dedicated to the documentation and celebration of the food cultures of the South. In 1998, Ole Miss had staged the first Southern Foodways Symposium, an event organized by a graduate student named John T. Edge. The original board hired Edge as the SFA director, a job he still holds in addition to filling the role Egerton once played: that of the nation's foremost Southern food expert.
On Saturday night, dozens crowded into the swank 21c Hotel in downtown Bentonville for what the SFA calls the Potlikker Film Festival. The organization has held such events across the region, showing short films produced by the noted documentarian Joe York, a member of the SFA staff. Three films were shown Saturday: one about the buffalo ribs that Elihue Washington serves at his Lassis Inn in Little Rock (we're talking a bottom-feeding fish here, not a four-legged mammal), one about the men who ply the waters of slow-moving Arkansas Delta streams to harvest the eggs from paddlefish for freshwater caviar, and one about the legendary McClard's Barbecue at Hot Springs, a restaurant that first served goat barbecue but is now known for beef, pork and tamales.
Among those enjoying the films were siblings Alice and Jim Walton. Alice Walton, the woman behind Bentonville's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, delighted in talking about the time she snagged a 110-pound paddlefish in the tail on Beaver Lake. Before and after the film, those in attendance listened to the music of Fayetteville-based Foleys Van. The band's website describes its music as "foot-stomping and whiskey-sippin' tunes geared toward the newer generation of string music. ... They also keep it traditional from time to time, performing bluegrass and old-time music."
The crowd also enjoyed Arkansas-grown foods prepared by chefs Matthew McClure of The Hive at 21c, Bill Lyle of Eleven at Crystal Bridges, Travis McConnell of Butcher & Public in North Little Rock and Matt Bell of South on Main in Little Rock. The four represent the best of a new generation of chefs who are putting Arkansas on the nation's food map.
From the setting at 21c, which is considered one of the hottest hotels in the country, to the food, film and drinks, it struck me that this event represented the very best Arkansas has to offer. Northwest Arkansas has become a magnet for talented young people, and what struck me even more were the many young couples who attended the Potlikker Film Festival. I met people who hailed from Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and elsewhere. All of them talked about how much they love their new Arkansas home and how they are anxious to learn more about their adopted state.
Edge noted that the SFA has more dues-paying members in New York City than it has in Arkansas despite the state's rich culinary heritage. That's unfortunate. After Saturday night, I expect that to change.
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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas' Independent Colleges and Universities. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 08/13/2014