A TENNESSEE HOG KILLING

Evan Hatch, folklorist and friend of the SFA, recently shared a wonderful essay and collection of photographs, documenting a hog killing in Woodbury, TN.

From the essay:

Since these photos were taken, this annual tradition has ceased. In preceding years, the day began the process of butchering and curing enough meat for its participants and their families to subsist for the year. These men slaughtered these hogs in order to preserve a centuries-old, once common farming tradition that has largely disappeared.

Go here for more.

SFA FILM TO PREMIERE AT NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 12

ABOVE THE LINE: SAVING WILLIE MAE'S SCOTCH HOUSE will premiere in its final form at the New Orleans Film Festival on Friday, October 12th at 7:00 pm at the Prytania Theater (uptown).

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the levees failed, Willie Mae Seaton's famed Scotch House restaurant, like so many others, succumbed to the rising water.

Over the past two years, restaurateur John Currence, the Southern Foodways Alliance, and volunteers from near and far have worked to restore this culinary and cultural landmark. The documentary, by film maker Joe York, chronicles the effort to get Ms. Seaton back in her kitchen, cooking the red beans and rice and fried chicken that earned her a James Beard Award in 2005, just three months before Katrina. By extension, the film highlights the kinds of small victories that serve to engender optimism in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Also on the must see list at the New Orleans Film Festival, FAUBOURG TREME, THE UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK NEW ORLEANS, written by SFA member, Lolis Eric Elie and TOOTIE'S LAST SUIT, produced by SFA member, Randy Fertel. Both films take on the issues of race and racism which were laid bare in post-Katrina New Orleans.

EXHIBITION OF PORTRAITS FROM THE SFA'S ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

As part of this year's Foodways Symposium, fifty photographs from the SFA's oral history archive will be featured at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture's Gammill Gallery. The exhibit, "Meet the Folks Behind the Food: The SFA Oral History Initiative at Year Three," opens on October 1st and will be on display through November 2nd.

Amy Evans, SFA oral historian, will give a Brown Bag Lecture on the exhibition at noon on Wednesday, October 17th, at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture.

WHOLE HOG HAMBOREE--AND A PODCAST--THIS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in Oxford, Mississippi, is hosting a Whole Hog Hamboree this Friday, September 14, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Powerhouse. Feast on good barbecue. Get schooled in smoke by Oxford attorney/bbq enthusiast Tom Freeland, and pitmaster/former Ole Miss cook Deke Baskin. Watch WHOLE HOG, a cool film by SFA filmmaker Joe York. And learn about the art of 'cue from Lolis Eric Elie, author of SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING and columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Lectures and the film screening are free, and tickets for dinner may be purchased by calling the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council at 662-236-6429. And did we mention that there'd be music? Get to the Powerhouse to hear the stylings of the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band.

Want a sneak preview? The SFA has posted our first-ever podcast, an interview with Deke Baskin, just this week. Find it online here: http://podcast.olemiss.edu/courses/NCP091107949/NCP091107949.xml, download it to your iPod, and learn all about good 'cue.

SFA ORAL HISTORY FEATURED ON SERIOUS EATS FOOD BLOG

Check out the SFA's collaboration with Serious Eats, a food blog and community, where a subject from our oral history archive will be featured every Friday. Last Friday's post was about the Latino influence in Carrboro, NC, highlighting one of our recent Tabasco Guardian of the Tradition awardees, Cliff Collins of Cliff's Meat Market.

Find the Serious Eats post and get in on the discussion right here.

Read our interview with Cliff Collins here.

ON THE BBQ TRAIL: NORTH CAROLINA

Amy Evans is on the Southern BBQ Trail again. This time, she's gathering the stories of North Carolina 'cue. On Tuesday, she visited with Wayne Monk at Lexington BBQ, learning a few of the secrets to his shoulders. Yesterday she visited with Ed Mitchell in Wilson and Wilbur Shirley of Wilbur's in Goldsboro, listening to their tales of wood, smoke, and sauce. And, of course, whole hogs.

Look for their oral histories to appear on the Southern BBQ Trail later this fall.