November 1

The 12th Southern Foodways Symposium has concluded.

With a ballet. Inspired by pork. Choreographed by Trey McIntyre.

Take a look at the dancers below, from Ballet Memphis.

And conjure the song "Gimme Gimme Chitlins" by Huey Piano Smith.

And you have an inkling of what transpired.

Photo by Pableaux Johnson

September 30

Allow me to present, on behalf of the NYT, the pepperoni roll straight outa the coal mines of West Virginia.

September 1

The new Oxford American is on the shelves. Look for two Jack Pendarvis pieces, a meditation on procrastination by Diane Roberts, and more.

I wrote an homage to Brown Family Dairy in Oxford, Billy Ray Brown's six-cow operation, peddling hormone-free, non-homogenized milk. As backdrop, I used an essay by his father, the late and great Larry Brown.

Buy a copy of the mag or just read my piece here.

August 27

I've been to Tucson twice in the last six months. Researching truck food and street food, I fell hard for the place.

Yes, the borderlands are a place of contention that cultural critic Gloria E. Anzaldúa once described as “una herida abieta,” which translates as “an open wound,” where “the Third World grates against the first and bleeds.”

But the borderlands are also a place of smooth and easy cultural exchange and complement, where constituencies as various as accordion-driven Tejano bands, black velvet portraitists and carne asada grill cooks have honed a modern Mexican-American aesthetic.

Today, the NYT ran my piece on Sonoran hotdogs, a totem of borderlands culture that just happens to taste great.