KENTUCKY’S BOURBON TRAIL SOUTHERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCE NASA: SOUTHERN STYLE The Southern Food Issue Winter 2016 Chef Sean Brock www.2ndandchurch.com ARTISAN BOOKS celebrates SOUTHERN CUISINE with recipes to delight and stories to inspire JAMES BEARD 2015 “The blue ribbon COOKBOOK AWARD WINNER chef cookbook of the year” IACP 2015 JULIA —The New York Times CHILD FIRST BOOK AWARD WINNER HERITAGE Sean Brock SMOKE & PICKLES FRANK STITT’S THE BACK IN THE DAY Edward Lee SOUTHERN TABLE BAKERY COOKBOOK Frank Stitt Cheryl and Griffith Day DESSERTS FROM THE FRANK STITT’S BACK IN THE DAY BAKERY FAMOUS LOVELESS CAFE BOTTEGA FAVORITA MADE WITH LOVE Alisa Huntsman Frank Stitt Cheryl and Griffith Day artisanbooks.com @artisanbooks @artisan_books 2 Winter 2016 The Southern Food Issue Lowcountry Hoppin’ John: The Story and the Recipe-p. 28 Winter 2016 www.2ndandchurch.com Cracklin’ Cornbread: The Story and the Recipe-p. 29 Features Winter 2016 The Southern Food Issue 20 In Depth with Chef Sean Brock The James Beard Award Winner, Author, and Seed Preservationist Parleys Southern Food in The Stables at Husk Nashville 34 Anson Mills & Glenn Roberts 38 Q&A with Professor David S. Shields Sunrise to Sunset with the Man who Saved Southern Food Author and Chairman of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation 32 Parnassus & Pop: An Evening with Sean Brock & Jason Isbell 39 Book Review: Southern Provisions: The Creation & Revival of a Cuisine 52 The Southern Foodways Alliance Photo Galleries: Celebrating the diverse food cultures of the changing American South 56 The Southern Foodways Alliance 74 Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail 112 JKS Communications: Her Authors Writer and motorcyclist Jennifer Eskew leads a motley crew across Kentucky, cooking along the way from Bourbon: a Savor the South Cookbook, by Kathleen Purvis. Cover Page: Photo by Andrea Behrends 40 SoFAB’s Literary Treasure Pages 3 & 4: Photos by Peter Frank Edwards The John & Bonnie Boyd Hospitality & Culinary Library Current Page: Photo by Shannon Hall CONTENTS Departments BOOK REVIEWS Great Reads Abound! Both national, local writers spotlighted throughout our Southern Food issue LEADING OFF POETRY 7 From the Editor 10 From the Poetry Editor SONGWRITING 33 11 Gallery of Poems Jason Isbell: CONTRIBUTORS On Tour 130 Learn More About the Writers, Poets Featured in This Issue 48 Remembering, Celebrating John Egerton Something More Than Free BUSINESS DISPATCHES 8 Food & Stories Bind Us Together as a Culture BOOKSELLER 86 Visiting with CrossRoad Books LOCAL WRITERS, POETS, & MUSICIANS 99 Ciona be Ciona 108 East Side Storytellin’: Column by Tom Wood 98 Les Kerr: A Music Menu 101 Portland, Oregon: When Sugar Was Good For My Writing 102 Mobile, Alabama: Food in Fiction 103 Sweden: New Words Opening Up New Worlds 104 Louisville, Kentucky: Something New in Southern Food ABOVE: Jason Isbell Photo by David McClister 6 Winter 2016 LEADING OFF A Word From the Editor ... P.O. Box 198156 Nashville, TN. 37129-8156 Reflecting on food, family E-mail: [email protected] On the Web: 2ndandchurch.com Managing editor: Roy Burkhead Associate editor: Brittany Eldridge Fiction editor: Roy Burkhead Poetry editor: Alvin Knox Factotum: Gayle Edlin Columnists: Chuck Beard Gayle Edlin Janelle Hederman Les Kerr Molly McCaffrey Randy O’Brien Julie Schoerke Correspondents: Charlotte Rains Dixon: Portland, Oregon Gayle Edlin: La Crosse, Wisconsin Alina Hunter-Grah: Photo by Clinton Lewis Chattanooga, Tennessee Civil War-era bridge, on the grounds of Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky Jennifer Palley: Sweden Linda Busby Parker: Mobile, Alabama Whenever possible, I do a lot of thinking “cheese product,” mixing them together, allow- Mary Popham: while visiting a bridge behind Cherry Hall, at ing Carol to stretch food and dollars. Louisville, Kentucky Western Kentucky University-especially in the There are memories of so much kindness in Suzanne Craig Robertson: wintertime. that little building, as well. Nashville, Tennessee ...and I’ve been thinking a lot about my Aunt After closing time, Carol would open the Deidre Woollard: Carol over the last couple of months. front doors to the video games and hit a magi- Los Angeles, California Since leaving my small Kentucky town in the cal, hidden button that registered free credits; mid-1980s, I saw her just a single time, and we’d play for at least an hour each night. And Photographers that visit was brief. when high school graduation arrived, Carol Gayle Edlin You see, one of my many summer jobs dur- hosted a large family event at Lambino’s. That Shannon S. Hall ing my high school years was in her restaurant, kindness was appreciated, and that’s the trait Terry Price Lambino’s. I think that’s how it was spelled. that sticks so solid in my mind now. Luke Seward It’s shut down now, but that has never stopped Kindness is also an attribute of so many me from driving by its location whenever I’ve people associated with what you are reading Web banner photo been in Kentucky. now, especially that of this issue’s cover story Kim Miles The name Lambino’s must have been on and interviewee, James Beard Award-winning the building when she took it over because I Chef Sean Brock. don’t remember anything particularly Italian Chef Brock and his media folks (Polished Pig Special thanks to: about the food that we served. Okay, I’m being Media) have been generous with his time and generous with the pronoun “we.” As one of the with access. And you should know that the numerous almost-unemployable relatives who man did not charge us to use Husk Nashville cycled through her kitchen over the years, she for the issue’s launch! He’s executive chef and worked me in the back as much as possible, partner of McCrady’s, Husk, and Minero in unless there were dishes “out there” in the Charleston, South Carolina; Minero in Atlanta, Three Loons Media front room for me to fetch. Georgia; and Husk in Nashville, Tennessee. (If 2nd & Church was designed by Three I suspect my experiences at Carol’s place you’re at the launch, please stick around for a Loons Media. were similar to those at many small, family- meal and some bourbon!) owned Southern restaurants: a continuous And Glenn Roberts at Anson Mills allowed E-mail: [email protected] mountain of dirty dishes and a shower of me to shadow him for an entire day all across scalding hot water—usually flung at me by his South Carolina operations and fields— Copyright 2016 by 2nd & Church. Carol’s son, my cousin: “Little Paul.” I spent loading me down with bags of Southern good- All rights reserved. No part of this many hours cutting and preparing all sorts of ies as I returned home. And Professor David publication may be reprinted without vegetables. Chunks of green peppers remain Shields—University of South Carolina food vivid to me. I also remember a product called written permission from the publisher. Continued on Page 133 Printed in USA “pretender.” I grated both real cheese and this 2ndandchurch.com 7 BUSINESS Food and Stories Bind Us Together as Welcome to 2nd & Church 2nd & Church is a literary jour- nal that celebrates writers, poets, a Culture and readers. We publish several issues a year, and readers may view by Julie Schoerke East Nashville is a hotbed of the best and a digital copy and/or purchase a the brightest of the creative minds in music traditional paper copy by visiting us Readers and foodies enjoy the camarade- and literature today. The community’s lifeblood online at www.2ndandchurch.com. rie of something shared. Stories have bound pulses through East Side Story bookstore, Own an iPad? If so, then check out us together since pre-historic times (literally founded by Chuck Beard and his lovely wife, the MagCloud app. It’s free and allows before history was in a written format) from Emily. And, just as Oxford, Mississippi has you to download all sorts of free generation to generation, bringing a greater the Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, Chuck has publications, including 2nd & Church. understanding between cultures. Food tends established East Side Storytellin’, an evening to bring people together in another unique of entertainment by authors, poets, musicians, Our mission way: to share common culture and to expand and spoken word artists who come together experiences of the five senses. in an ever-moving indie business venue to Our goal is to be inclusive of Nashville is becoming known nationally for highlight and support Nashville’s local business many different types of writers and being, as The New York and the talent. writing, including creative nonfic- Times put it recently, Singer-songwriter tion, technical writing, literary fiction, the “it” city for food and Deborah Wilbrink W4C, poetry, translation, songwrit- creative culture. Growth has started a cottage ing, and commercial fiction. of a literary community industry by writing 2nd & Church explores the creative is invigorating. Authors a book and creating writing life. What does it mean for and writers are migrat- the “Time To Tell: Your a writer, poet, or reader to live a ing to Music City to Family & Personal His- life of fine arts? Where can writers, become a part of the tory” movement to help poets, and readers gather? What do rich fabric of our com- regular folks in Nashville they write and read about? Which munity, a creative force who may have never experiences make it from their lives that is made up of equal considered themselves to the pages? How are they engaged, parts “can do” attitude writers tell their own entertained, and provoked? And in and an inspired group stories. turn, how do they engage, entertain, of storytellers through Courtney Stevens is and provoke readers? These are music, writing, and the an author with a rare some of the questions we seek to spoken word.