My daughter’s grape hull pie
My first article on food was an essay that I wrote in 1997 called “The Wild Plums at Core Creek: In Praise of Slow Cooking.” It was a celebration of back roads cafes, church suppers and the kinds of old home-cooked dishes that I first came to know in my grandmother’s kitchen.
At that time, I was writing about dark themes in our history: I think I needed to remind myself of the sweet and good things in life.
Writing about food has been a passionate hobby ever since. While I’ve written food stories for magazines, newspapers and even a cookbook or two, the largest part of my food writing has appeared in a blog that I wrote for the North Carolina Folklife Institute from 2007 to 2011.
Below you’ll find links to about 100 of those stories, and we’ll try to have links to the rest soon. If you don’t find a story here, be sure to check the N.C. Folklife Institute’s website.
-2007-
Muscadine Grape-Hull Pie (Duplin County)
Scallop Fritters & Lemon-Milk Pie
Brunswick Stew
Sinigang Na Baboy
Roast Jumping Mullet & Banana Pudding
Persimmon Pudding
Irene’s Collards & Corn Dumplings
Posole at La Vaquita
Kourambiethes at Holy Trinity
Christmas Fruitcake
-2008-
The Best Dandoodle in the World
Lacy Cornbread, Tomato Pudding & Boiled Peanuts
Doenjang and Fried Dill Pickles
Healing from the Land
The Needy and the Stranger
Resurrections: Venters Grill, Strickland Dail’s & Holland’s Shelter Creek
Check Hog Hash off the Bucket List
Miss Mogie’s Molasses Gunger
Grand Asia Market
Ocracoke Oyster Pie
Greensboro Farmers Curb Market
Full Circle Crab Company
Daddy’s Stewed Conchs
Cake Lady, Watermelon Man & the Saw Mill Boys
Deep River
Madison County Farmers and Artisans Market
Trail Magic
South Estes Farmers Market
Sunshine Lavender Farm
Chatham County Strawberry Fields
Britt’s Donut Shop
Love at Hardee’s
Anathoth Community Garden
Davidson’s Soda Shop
Fayetteville Street Soul Food
Lumbee Homecoming (by guest blogger, Jeff Currie)
Bakersville
Miss Jenny’s Fig Preserves
Beatrice Mason’s Pickled Green Tomatoes
Tamales at the Buckhorn Flea Market
Black Walnuts
Rocky Mount Farmers Market
Collards for Sale
Pierogi at Saints Cyril and Methodius
-2009-
Homage to a Red & White
My Lord, Honey
The Art of Making Oyster Fritters
Cary’s Little India
Gibsonville
Mermaid Point
Hot Pepper Vinegar, Oyster Stew & Cheese Biscuits
Peggy O’Neal’s Fishcakes
Lovick’s Cafe, Kinston
At the Statesville Rotary Farmer’s Market
St. Nicholas Greek Festival, Wilmington
Eagle Island Produce & Seafood Market
Aunt Dot’s Squash Casserole
Bread of Heaven Bakery, Goldsboro
Moore Square Farmers Market, Raleigh
Fresh Shrimp
Muscadine Grape-hull Preserves
Clambake, Beaufort
Peanuts at the A&B Milling Company, Enfield
Julia’s Talley House
US 701—La Mixteca and La Michoacana
-2010-
Yoder’s Dutch Pantry
Stew Beef and Rutabagas with Corn Dumplings
Fishmonger’s Elegy
Bill’s Hot Dogs, Washington
Al Baraka Market’s Almonds with Lemon
Last Oyster Roast
Tamales Oaxaquenos, Lillington
4-H Livestock Show & Auction, Ponzer
Sprigs of Fresh Basil, Greensboro
Flower Blossom Pupusas
Ridgeway Cantaloupe Festival
Tuesday Flea Market, Murphy
Greasy Beans & Yellow-eyed Peas
Big T’s on a Saturday Night
Brightleaf Flea Market
Pickled Corn on the Cob
Homeland Creamery
Oakwood BBQ
Home Canned Tomatoes
Pintos and Cornbread
-2011-
Black-Eyed Peas & Hog Jowls
Bear Hunter’s Cornpone with Ramps
Jeff & Lisa’s Brick House Grill
Hoe Cakes
Bailey, NC
Hood Swamp
Yellow Cabbage Collards
Prison Farm Tomatoes
The Skylight
North Asheville Tailgate Market
Warren Wilson College Farm
Styron’s Fish House
Davis Shore Light Rolls
Saxapahaw General Store
Ugawa
Tomato Gravy
Ms. Alice’s Kitchen
Spaghetti Supper
Church Bazaar, Butner
Cabin Branch Farm Market
Pickled Hot Sausage
Mac’s Air Dried Sausage
Core Sound Clam Chowder with corn dumplings
Miss Beadie’s Sweet Potato Biscuits
-2011-
Pimento Cheese & Liver Pudding, Kernersville
Pik-N-Pig, Carthage
Bright Leaf Dogs
Carolina Beach Farmers Market
Honor Box Produce
Core Creek Crab Pot
David Cecelski 