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12 FLAGPOLE.COM • AUGUST 19,2009
POTLIKKER
Southenn 3ood and 3ilm
I t's been a while since the Southern
Foodways Alliance (SFA) folks came
through Athens, but my are they fun
when they're here. Part of the Center for
the Study of Southern Culture at the University
of Mississippi, SFA combines academics and
eating in the best possible way, with a yearly
symposium on Southern food culture, tours
and projects throughout the year and the
region, regular publications of studies in the
field and, most recently, the Potlikker Film
Fest, a touring showcase for SFA documenta
ries that hits the Classic City this Saturday,
Aug. 22, at Cin#. What I've always liked about
SFA is its populist bent. Everyone knows
someone who can hold forth on regional food
traditions at length, whether it's the correct
recipe for barbecue sauce or whether cream
of mushroom soup is a necessity or an abomi
nation, and the SFA gives all us food nerds
(something quite distinct from "foodies") a
venue. The Potlikker festival is a bit easier to
set up than the slew of events usually part of
the SFA's arrival in town, and the presence of
Cin# gives it a marvelous venae,
within walking distance of many a
restaurant and bar.
Joe York, the man responsible
for three of the films that will
be screening, has made literally
dozens of documentaries on dif
ferent aspects of Southern food
culture, from Apalachicola oysters
to heirloom seeds. With an M.A.
in Southern Studies from the
University of Mississippi, York
works as a freelance photogra
pher in addition to producing and
directing documentaries for the
Center for Documentary Studies
and the SFA and has produced
a book of his photographs of
Southern church signs, With Signs
Following. York's films at this
Potlikker are The Rise of Southern
Cheese, which he made with
Matthew Graves and which takes a
look at Belle Chevre in Alabama,
Sweet Grass Dairy in Georgia (producers of the
Thomasville Tomme, a gorgeous, mild cow's
milk cheese of which I could eat a wheel) and
Bonnie Blue Farm in Tennessee; Hot Chicken,
about Andre Prince Jeffries and this extremely
spicy specialty of Nashville, which he serves at
his restaurant, Prince's, and which guarantees
to make you cry in pain if you're so foolish as
to order "hot" rather than "medium"; and Cud:
The Story of Will Harris and White Oak Pastures,
which will premiere at the festival and takes
as its subject Will Harris of Bluffton, GA, who
raises beef cattle that roam and graze freely
on sweet native grasses and spends each
evening with his cows, his dog and a bottle
of wine. Also screening is Mr. Okra, a film by
T.G. Herrington and Andre A. Jones that fol
lows Arthur J. Robinson (AKA Mr. Okra) as he
travels the back streets of New Orleans, selling
vegetables from his iconic truck and announc
ing his wares through a loudspeaker.
You can watch a few of these at the SFA's
website (www.southernfoodways.com), but
there's more than just movies to be found
at the event, which runs from 6 to 9 p.m.,
with a reception, Terrapin beer, poetry read
by Coleman Barks with accompaniment by
Mickey Gilmore on harmonica and Bill Ogelsby
on flute and sax, food provided by an array
of luminaries and potlikker shots handed out
at the door, with cornbread. Wait, really? I
assumed these had to be fancy cocktails that
merely incorporated potlikker, but, no. It's
an actual, or really two actual shots of the
stuff produced by cooking greens for a long,
long time, a broth of deep flavor that pos
sesses a kind of umami even if there's no meat
involved. In this case, they'll be supplied by
Angelish Wilson (of Wilson's), who's doing the
traditional version, and Eddie Hernandez (of
Taqueria del Sol), who's presumably bringing
the spicy broth produced by his restaurant's
turnip greens, one of the best things on the
menu. Hugh Acheson (Five and Ten) is making
mini meat loaf (made from White Oak Pastures
beef) with pickled tomatoes and collards,
Peter Dale (The National) is bringing piquillo
peppers stuffed with White Oak Pastures beef
and sofrito, Dexter Weaver (Weaver D's) is
dishing up his sweet potato casserole, Olivia
Sargeant and Jason Mann (Farm 255) will
supply Cuban sandwiches, and James Beard
Award-winner Louis Osteen (Lake Rabun Hotel)
is making a catfish pat#, all of which should
make you feel a little more like your $45 will
be well spent, if you're on the fence.
This stop on the festival tour also serves
as a celebration of the Athens Eats oral his
tory project, which recorded interviews with
Weaver and Wilson in 2006 that remain acces
sible on the SFA website, along with many
from other towns and cities in the South. The
SFA is always looking for new participants
in the oral history initiative, permanently
archived at the University of Mississippi, and
provides tools and encouragement for you to
do so on its site.
The films will be screened twice, leaving
plenty of time for munching and socializing
and, of course, drinking, if you didn't get
your fill the previous night at the rye whiskey
dinner at Five and Ten (call the restaurant
to reserve a seat). SFA and the organizers of
the event would strongly prefer you didn't
just wander up to Cin# at 5:59 on Saturday,
expecting to be admitted. Instead, go to www.
southernfoodways.com and purchase your
tickets there, ahead of time, then print your
receipt and bring it with you as your admis
sion. There will no doubt be other events,
less formal, during the course of the weekend,
and if your favorite bar appears to have been
taken over by a bunch of seersucker-wearing,
garrulous folks who seem to be itching to get
into a fight over whether or not to add sugar
to cornbread (heck no!), treat them kindly.
Hillary Brown