Food+Drink
Featured
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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.
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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.
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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.
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
Breads for the Sweet Tooth
One of many memorable aspects of my mountain boyhood focuses on what were simply known as “sweets.” By today’s health standards virtually everyone I knew during my youth consumed an inordinate amount of desserts, jams and jellies, honey and syrups.
Aug 1, 2025
There are no Eggs in Aubergine
Eggplant or aubergine? Depending on your country of origin, you might have strong feelings as to the name of this fruit disguised as a vegetable (eggplant for North America and Australia; aubergine for France and Britain and neighboring countries).
Aug 1, 2025
The Glory Of Grits
Grits have long been a staple of mountain diet along with its sister, food hominy. In old-time mountain parlance, as a matter of fact, you more commonly heard “hominy grits” than just hominy.
Jun 1, 2025
Raiding the Garden for a Refreshing Cucumber
Ever wonder where the expression “cool as a cucumber” originated? Apparently, a certain John Gay penned a poem titled “New Song on New Similes” in 1732.
Jun 1, 2025
