On newsstands now, the first Oxford American Food Issue

Check out the new issue of the OA, edited by our own John T. Edge. Featuring a mess of SFA members--and showcasing (on page 125) the SFA's first advertisement, donated by the good folks at the Oxford American. Buy five or six copies and share. www.oxfordamericanmag.com

Announcing Greenwood Culinary Adventures

The Alluvian Hotel and Viking Cooking School will host innovative Southern chefs including Chef John Fleer of Blackberry Farm (May 13-15), Chef Tory McPhail of Commander's Palace (July 8-10), Chef John Folse of Lafitte's Landing (August 12-14), Chefs Ben and Karen Barker of Magnolia Grill (September 9-11), and Chef Robert St. John of Purple Parrot Cafe and Crescent City Grill accompanied by renowned artist Wyatt Waters (October 21-23) in a series of 3-day culinary adventures. Call 866.600.5201 for more information.

Seeking Food Info for Cumberland Plateau

Seeking names, locations of authentic, locally owned restaurants, food festivals, food customs in these Cumberland Plateau counties of Tennessee: Anderson, Bledsoe, Campbell, Claiborne, Cumberland, Fentress, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Marion, Morgan, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Scott, Sequatchie, Van Buren, Warren, White. For National Heritage Corridor survey. Please respond to: Edwin Gardner, ESGV@bellsouth.net

The Kitchen Project

Check out the Kitchen Project by Project Alabama. Project Alabama is an organization operating out of Florence, Alabama, and they are doing terrific work employing local workers to create hand-made clothing. They have created an online exhibit of oral history and photography, inspired by the SFA oral history project, that may be found by visiting the organization's website at http://www.projectalabama.com/Catalogue.htm.

IT'S GRITS Available on Video/DVD

Stan Woodward announces the digital restoration of the pioneering foodways film IT'S GRITS! The new DVD version contains recollections from the filmmaker and his assistant, Jay Williams, who provide informative and entertaining commentary. (The SFA gave a piddling amount of dollars to help defray the cost of restoration and encourages you to buy a copy for yourself.) Available in DVD and VHS from stanwoodward.com

SFA asks, "What are Tights?"

A friend from Marianna, Florida, has a 1930's Bainbridge Georgia restaurant menu from a restaurant owned and operated by his father and aunt. Among the items listed was "Tights" at 5 cents each, the same price as a hot dog and in the same menu location. Any idea what tights are? We don't know! Please e-mail malg1@yahoo.com if you think you have an answer. Thanks for any assistance you may offer. --Mal Greenfield

SFA Seeks Sweet Artwork

Looking forward to our fall symposium, we seek art that celebrates sugar and sweetness. Won't you be so kind as to suggest an artist or artwork?

Things to know: Ideally, the artist works in the Southern vernacular. We prefer painting to photography. And we like bright colors. Usually, we buy the painting--and the right to reproduce it--from the artist and then sell the work at the symposium to cover costs. But we're open to other arrangements.

Take a look at http://www.southernfoodways.com/sym_past.shtml and click on individual years to see some of our past selections.

And then, by April 15, send your suggestions to sfamail@olemiss.edu. Include, if you are able, the artist's web site, a museum web site, or an image of a particular artwork.

Center for American Culinary Research Opens

Registration information is now available online for the dedication of the Longone Center for American Culinary Research and the First Biennial Symposium on American Culinary History, scheduled May 13-15, 2005. Opening in May, the Center at the University of Michigan is a premier resource for the scholarly study of American culinary history, covering all regions and aspects of foodways.
Further details are available at www.clements.umich.edu

Hot Boudin!

Headed to Louisiana to learn about sweets on our field trip this summer? Well, you might also want to check out some other foods, too. Like boudin. Boy, it's good. And there's a website that you can visit to read all about how it's made and the best places to find it. Check it out online at www.boudinlink.com

Know a Good Bartender?

The Southern Foodways Alliance--with support from Southern Comfort--is producing an oral history project on the bartenders of New Orleans. Amy Evans, our resident oral historian, will be heading to the Big Easy next month to work on the project, and she is looking for interesting subjects. If you know of any bartenders--working or retired--in the NOLA area, who would have a few good stories to tell, please pass along their information. (Also, if you know of interesting bartenders anywhere in the South, please tell us about them too.) Amy can be reached at amy_evans@usa.net or by calling her at (662) 915-5993. Thanks! Look for the completed project to appear here this summer.

SFA Member Seeks Potluck Recipes

Dolores Kostelni is working on a new book, Potluck Cookbook: 100 Classic Recipes for Any Occasion. She'd love to include your tried and true potluck recipes. Please send a favorite recipe or two with your name as you'd like it to appear in the headnotes, as well as the recipe, how many it serves (it's best if it serves 8 or more), its provenance and any tips you have for its success. These recipes should be fun to make, easy, and delicious. A real potluck pleasure for all. She looks forward to hearing from you--and soon. The deadline is in 30 days. Contact thehappycook@aol.com with your favorite recipes. Thanks a lot for all of your delicious help!

SFA Announces Remembering Bill Neal Benefit Dinner

The SFA is happy to announce a dinner and panel discussion to benefit the Southern Foodways Alliance and the Chapel Hill Historical Society.

REMEMBERING BILL NEAL: Reflections On The Southern Culinary Renaissance
Join us for two events celebrating a chapter in the culinary history of Chapel Hill and the South. Dinner to benefit Southern Foodways Alliance and the Chapel Hill Historical Society.

Bill Neal's Influence On Fine Dining In The South, A Panel Discussion
Sunday, February 27 at 4:00 pm
MODERATOR: John T. Edge, Executive Director, Southern Foodways Alliance
PANEL: Moreton Neal, Bill Neal's former wife and business partner; David Perry, Editor In Chief, UNC Press; Robert Stehling, Owner & Chef, Hominy Grill; Gene Hamer, Owner, Crook's Corner
LOCATION: The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, NC
Reservations Not Required. No Charge.

A Reprise of the 2003 New York City James Beard Dinner Honoring Bill Neal
Monday, February 28 at 6:30 pm
HOST CHEF: Brian Stapleton, The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, NC
GUEST CHEFS: Bill Smith, Crook's Corner, Chapel Hill, NC; John Currence, The City Grocery, Oxford, MS; Robert Stehling, Hominy Grill, Charleston, SC; Karen & Ben Barker, Magnolia Grill, Durham, NC
GUEST SPEAKER: John T. Edge, Executive Director, Southern Foodways Alliance.
LOCATION: The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, NC
$85 per person, plus tax; gratuity.
Call 919-918-2777 for reservations.

2005 Symposium -- Call for Presentations

The eighth annual Southern Foodways Alliance symposium will take place October 27-30, 2005 on the campus if the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. This year, the SFA--which celebrates, teaches, preserves, and promotes the diverse food cultures of the American South—examines sugar and sweetness. We seek presentations informed by research, fieldwork, and scholarship, but geared to an informed popular audience. Proposals should be one page in length and contain the following:

--the name of the presenter along with two professional references concerning presentation skills and qualifications;
--the title or theme of the presentation;
--a brief description of the subject matter to be discussed; and
--the anticipated length of the presentation; and
--your preferred presentation format, i.e., interactive lecture, panel discussion, group presentation.

While we invite you to propose any presentation on a sugar-related topic concerning the American South, we encourage proposals that explore Southern dessert rituals during the holidays, competitive food events involving sugar, historical profiles of a particular Southern dessert, Southern beverages using sugar, sugar and commerce, and profiles of sugar product artisans.

Please electronically submit your proposals by March 1, 2005 to John T. Edge at sfamail@olemiss.edu.

Date Changes for SFA Field Trip

Mark your calendars! The new dates for the SFA field trip to New Orleans are July 7-10. Please note that this date differs from the date advertised on member renewal cards. We had to change our plans so as not to get squeezed out by another big convention that booked the city on our dates. The result? Better hotel rates for all of us! SFA members will stay at the International House for the summer event, and registrants will be offered a confirmation code to use when calling to book a room.

John T in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Check out today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution for an article on John T! Here's the link: http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/food/0105/20edge.html
Drew Jubera did a great job of profiling our director and his stewardship of the SFA.

SFA Symposium in the News (Again!)

Just when your memories of October were beginning to fade, Rod Davis reminds us of the good time we all had in Oxford at the symposium. Check out his article in today's San Antonio News Express (click on this post's title to be directed to the article.)

SFA Seeks Sweet Advice

SFA looks to kick off a year of sweets in January 2005. We'll explore sugary goodness both during our July field trip to New Orleans and at our annual October conference in Oxford.

Each year when we study a topic, we get many requests (from members and non-members alike) for resource material on that topic. In preparation for next year's sweet tooth, we're asking SFA members to help create a bibliography on the topic. Read a good article lately? Have a favorite dessert cookbook? Please mail your suggestions (book title, author, press, and publication date) to sfamail@olemiss.edu by December 15. Once we have your suggestions, we'll tie them all together and share our book list with the membership. Thanks, in advance, for your sweet suggestions!

SFA Member Seeks Funeral Culture Foods

Cindy Lamb is collecting recipes and researching funeral culture for a book entitled "Good Grief, Great Food: Last Suppers of the South." She hopes you can contibute a favorite family dish passed down from those who have passed on. This book was born of her father's funeral and a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Please send all contributions and proper credits to: Cindy Lamb 2841 Westminster Court, Lou., KY 40206 or LambScribe@aol.com. Thank you!

SFA and The Kitchen Sisters on NPR

Listen to NPR's Morning Edition this Friday, November 19, to hear a segment entitled "America Eats: A Hidden Archive." The Southern Foodways Alliance contributed to this story. Hidden Kitchens is a radio program that explores the world of street-corner cooking, hidden kitchens, legendary meals and eating traditions -- how communities come together through food. Each Friday morning from Oct. 1, 2004, until the end of the year, listeners will travel the country with the Hidden Kitchens project as they visit and chronicle all kinds of American kitchen cultures, past and present.

SFA on CBS Sunday Morning

Look for SFA Director John T Edge on CBS Sunday Morning -- THIS Sunday, November 21. This special food edition of the show airs at 8 central (in most markets) and lasts 90 minutes. Cheers, and have a happy Thanksgiving Day.