JULY 2019 / SOUTHERNLIVING.COM
10
TWENTY YEARS AGO, on July 22,
1999, a diverse group of Southern food
writers, chefs, and historians gathered
in the heat of summer at the Southern
Living offices in Birmingham to create
an organization that would use teaching
and storytelling to tackle issues of race,
poverty, and division in the South. It
was a bold idea and not the first of
its kind, but with strong support from
the University of Mississippi, the group
was fueled by a sense of optimism
and excitement. Southern food was
on the rise, and there seemed to be an
opportunity to bring together people of
all races and creeds around a common
table. Led by a charismatic writer from
Nashville named John Egerton, they
called themselves the Southern
Foodways Alliance (SFA).
That night, they met for dinner at
Highlands Bar & Grill, where chef Frank
Stitt served a menu meant to celebrate
Southern food with a local provenance:
fried green tomatoes with crab from
Bayou La Batre, Alabama; rabbit pilau
with Vidalia onions and nasturtium
blossoms; and grilled Destin grouper
with cherry tomatoes, okra, and butter
beans. The conversation was animated.
Stitt talked about the need to accentuate
the importance of farmers, and Egerton
ended the dinner by laying out a vision
for a better South, one in which food
could help heal some very old wounds.
“John Egerton’s desire was to bring
eaters and thinkers together,” says
Pardis Stitt, who manages restaurants
with her husband, Frank. “His vision
was not to turn away from our past but
to talk across the table while breaking
cornbread and dipping it in potlikker.”
A young food scholar and graduate
of the University of Mississippi’s Center
for the Study of Southern Culture, John
T. Edge, was appointed the director of
the organization, and he has spent 20
years bringing Egerton’s vision to life—
and infusing it with his own. The SFA
now has around 2,500 members; a
quarterly publication and a podcast,
both called Gravy; a calendar full of
events; a catalog of oral histories; and a
slew of short films exploring Southern
food culture and the people who define
it. His feature in this issue, “Southern
Food Legends” (page 64), is a tribute
to 20 of them, many of whom have
inspiring stories that would not have
been told without the work of the SFA.
To all of our friends in that fine
organization, and to the visionary crew
who founded it, happy anniversary.
Keep doing what you’re doing.
@sidmemphis
[email protected]
SID EVANS
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Breaking Cornbread
A tribute to an organization that has given new meaning to Southern food
Bottom row from left: Jeanne Voltz, Sarah
Labensky, Louis Osteen, Karen Cathey, Marlene
Osteen, Frank Stitt, Jim Auchmutey, Charles
Reagan Wilson, Cynthia Hizer, Marion Sullivan,
Norma Jean Darden, Bob Sykes, Damon Lee
Fowler; Middle row from left: Ned Shank,
Crescent Dragonwagon, Toni Tipton-Martin,
Nathalie Dupree; Top row from left: John
Egerton, Martha Johnston, John T. Edge,
Timothy W. Patridge, Anna Abadie, Donna
Florio, Terry Ford, Kaye Adams
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