Food+Drink
Featured
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Classic Fare for the Road or the Trail
I recently compiled a book of recipes oriented towards the hiker, the camper, the boater, the beach-bud, the front porch entertainer; in sum, all of those outdoor summer activities that call for simple, transportable food to enrich the experience.
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The Heavenly Strawberry
Wild strawberries have always been abundant in the southern Appalachians, and in a passage in his Travels botanical explorer William Bartram described riding for two miles through “strawberry plains” in what was then Cherokee territory.
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A Forager’s Feast
One step out your door, if you live anywhere with earth to welcome your feet, is an invitation to tiptoe so that you don’t step on your next meal.
A Forager’s Feast
One step out your door, if you live anywhere with earth to welcome your feet, is an invitation to tiptoe so that you don’t step on your next meal.
Mar 30, 2026
Savory Soups
As a youngster growing up in the Smokies, soup was an integral and important part of my family’s foodstuffs, and on a bitter winter’s day a big bowl of one of Momma’s many types was sustenance for the body and uplifting for the soul.
Jan 25, 2026
The Right Sauce
I’ve always been intrigued by words and their suggestions of multiple layers of meaning. Consider the word “sauce.” If you’re from the south, this might mean gravy; perhaps a sawmill gravy with chunks of sausage in its floury creaminess.
Jan 25, 2026
Bruce Ingram photo
Third Generation Cherry Enthusiast Celebrates the Sweet & Sour
“Quaker hippy” is how Frank Levering describes his Grandfather Ralph, who in 1908 founded an apple orchard in the mountains of Carroll County, Virginia, not far from what would become the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Jan 25, 2026
What’s A Meal Without Gravy?
In my Smoky Mountain boyhood, and even more so in earlier generations, high country cooks like my Grandma Minnie would have considered a hot meal without gravy something approaching culinary sacrilege.
Dec 1, 2025
Tajines for All Tastes
Say the word “tajine” and see color, spice, shadowed desertous hills, white flowing robes and bare feet and bright sunshine on sand. See markets and earthenware dishes and silver pots of tea with fresh mint and sugar cubes.
Dec 1, 2025
The Wonderful Versatility of Nuts
Native nuts—black walnuts, the now vanishing butternut, the vanished American chestnut, hazelnuts, chinquapins, and hickory nuts—have long been an integral part of mountain culinary culture.
Oct 1, 2025
A Bird for Each Season
Sundays in the mountains traditionally involve chicken, often breaded and fried, and served with mashed potatoes and a hearty gravy. French families also serve up chicken, usually weekly.
Oct 1, 2025
