Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover's Companion to the South

John T. Edge, "the Faulkner of Southern food" (the "Miami Herald"), reveals a South hidden in plain sight, where restaurants boast family pedigrees and serve supremely local specialties found nowhere else. From backdoor home kitchens to cinder-block cafes, he introduces you to cooks who have been standing tall by the stove since Eisenhower was in office. While revealing the stories behind their food, he shines a bright light on places that have become Southern institutions. In this fully updated and expanded edition, with recipes throughout, Edge travels from chicken shack to fish camp, from barbecue stand to pie shed. Pop this handy paperback in the glove box to take along on your next road trip. And even if you never get in the car, you'll enjoy the most savory history that the South has to offer.

In this updated and expanded edition, with recipes from some of the South's most famous kitchens, John T. Edge, andquot;the Faulkner of Southern Food,andquot; travels the back roads from Texas to Virginia, from chicken shack to fish camp, from barbecue stand to pie shed, to bring you the most savory food and history the South has to offer. InSouthern Belly, you'll find a South hidden in plain sight, where cooks who've been standing tall by the stove since Eisenhower was in office serve local specialties found nowhere else. The perfect traveling companion, Edge reveals the stories and secrets behind this mouthwatering food as he guides you to more than two hundred places that have quietly become Southern institutions.

John T. Edge is a contributing editor at Gourmet.He also writes for the New York Times and the Oxford American and appears on the Food Network's The Secret Life of...and NPR's weekend All Things Considered.His work has been featured in the last six Best Food Writings annuals, and his books include A Gracious Plenty and Fried Chicken: An American Story. Director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississipi, he is also the columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution's

Contents
xi Introduction: An Appetite for Context
1 Alabama
31 Arkansas
51 (North) Florida
75 Georgia
105 Kentucky
127 Louisiana
163 Mississipi
191 North Carolina
219 South Carolina
243 Tennessee
271 (East) Texas
295 Virginia
317 Thanks
321 Photograph Credits
327 Places