Ronni Lundy
Ronni Lundy was a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and edited Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South, an alliance anthology of the region’s best food writing.
Smoky Mountain Living is proud to bring you the recipes of Ronni Lundy, an Appalachian author and editor whose work has been honored with two James Beard Foundation awards.
Last year, her book Victuals—a study of Appalachian cooking and life—received the first place Beard award for American cooking and the Beard Foundation Book of the Year award.
“I am personally delighted to have my work featured in the pages of your magazine,” Lundy told SML after the magazine secured rights to publish specific Appalachian recipes from her book in this and future editions.
This classic recipe for Skillet Fried Chicken and Milk Gravy is only the first of her mouth-watering ideas to appear in SML. Regular readers will enjoy her recipes for homemade Pimento Cheese and homemade Nabs; Kale Potato Cakes with old school Tomato gravy; Buttermilk Brown Sugar Pie; Sumac Oil Flatbread with Country Ham and Pickled Ramps; and Rosti with Chives and Caper Tater Sauce.
Lundy was born in Corbin, Kentucky in 1949, and grew up in the Louisville area. Her hometown of Corbin is where the Hoosier-state native Harland Sanders developed his recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken, but in her first food book, Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken, Lundy pointed out: “I was born in Kentucky and Colonel Harland D. Sanders was not, so you can believe me when I say that I, not the Colonel, know the secret to making honest fried chicken.” She has also lived in New Mexico and now lives in the mountains of North Carolina.
Her other books include Sorghum’s Savor, Butter Beans to Blackberries: Recipes from the Southern Garden, In Praise of Tomatoes, and Honest Fried Chicken: The Heart and Soul of Southern Country Kitchens.
Lundy was a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and edited Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South, an alliance anthology of the region’s best food writing.
Lundy has written about musicians, travel, small farms, community-supported agriculture, heirloom seeds, culinary traditions, and the joy of eating. Her work has appeared in Esquire, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, and now, Smoky Mountain Living.
We welcome her to our table.
—Jonathan Austin