Skip to main content

Southern Foodways Alliance: More Than Just Barbeque

Without a doubt, the biggest trend in food over the past ten years has been eating smarter. Chefs, gourmands, and even marginally informed diners are more aware of what they are eating and where their food is coming from.

One of the forebears of this trend is the Southern Foodways Alliance, which was founded thirteen years ago in Birmingham, Alabama. John Egerton, a Southern journalist, author and activist who has remained the muse and moral center of the Alliance since its inception, organized the founders of the non-profit group. From the beginning, the SFA has been based upon the principle that food is a cultural product of the American South just as much as Faulkner, Memphis blues and Muscle Shoals.

Recommended Videos

When you think of Southern food, the first thing that comes to mind is barbeque and, according to a spokesperson for the SFA, 2012 was all about barbeque. Over the course of the year, the Alliance tried to explore barbeque cuisine through every lens they could possibly think of—whether that meant regional variations in meats and sauces to the issues of gender, labor, power, tradition, authenticity and animal welfare. Not your typical thought process when approaching a pulled pork sandwich or slab of baby back ribs.

This past October, the SFA premiered Pride & Joy, which is a feature-length documentary about Southern Food, which was made by the Alliance’s resident filmmaker Joe York. The film is set to make the rounds at film festivals in 2013 and will also receive an air date on PBS (the date is still to be determined).

Also, in 2013, the SFA is going to direct their focus on the role of women in Southern food and drink. Many members of the Alliance feel that Southern women are “under-celebrated as chefs and entrepreneurs” and will focus of both their June symposium (located in Richmond, Virginia) and their October symposium (located in Oxford, Mississippi).

But first, in January the SFA will hold their Taste of the South event, which serves as a benefit for the Alliance. Taste of the South is hosted by Blackberry Farm and will feature a lineup of chefs including Tyler Brown (Capital Grille in Nashville; voted one of Esquire’s Best New Chefs, 2011), Vivian Howard (owner of Chef & The Farmer in Kinston, N.C.) and Mike Lata (James Beard award winning chef at Fig in Charleston, S.C.). The event takes place from January 17-20 and culminates in a gala supper followed by an auction to further support the SFA’s work.

If you are educated on food, but not on the SFA, now is the time to start learning about this fantastic organization.

Topics
Matt Domino
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matt Domino is a writer living in Brooklyn. His fiction has appeared in Slice and The Montreal Review, while his non-fiction…
What is sparkling coffee? A dietitian’s take on this fizzy coffee trend
All about this new coffee trend
sparkling coffee

Coffee typically isn't a drink you'd think of as "fizzy," but the new sparkling coffee trend begs to differ. Sometimes referred to as a "coffee soda," sparkling coffee offers a new way for coffee drinkers to enjoy their morning brew while taking advantage of potential health benefits. Sparkling coffee is trending all over Instagram and TikTok, but what exactly is sparkling coffee, and is it just a gimmick?

Catherine Gervacio, a Registered Dietitian (RD) and a certified exercise nutrition coach, shares her thoughts on sparkling coffee and how it could help boost your health.

Read more
5 easy tips to help you drink whiskey like a seasoned expert
Here are all the tips you need to start your whiskey-tasting journey
Pouring a glass of whiskey

When you first get into whiskey, nobody will fault you for simply pouring your go-to bourbon, rye, single malt Scotch whisky, or other random whiskey style into a glass and taking a sip without going through all the fanfare of an expert whiskey taster. There’s nothing wrong with that. Even if you want to add ice, I won’t tell you that you’re wrong. Everyone gets started in their own way.

I’ve been writing about alcohol for almost two decades, and I started drinking whiskey the same way as many of you. The first whiskey I drank neat was Jameson Irish whiskey, which I received as a gift. Before that, most (if not all) of my experience drinking whiskey was as a base for a cocktail.

Read more
Introducing Meli, a beer made from quinoa
Meli quinoa beer.

The beer scene of late is not sticking to the script. We've witnessed everything from clear beer styles to kernza grain beer and fruited sours made with rhubarb. Next up, a beer made from quinoa.

Introducing Meli, the first beer of its kind to drop in the U.S. The beer was launched by Samara Oster after three years of trials. Interestingly, she was never really into beer until she tried one brewed partially with quinoa while in Peru. The Harvard and MIT grad collaborated with food scientists to make the new brew.

Read more