2 cups ramp cornmeal Âœ tsp. salt 1 â 1 Âœ cup milk or buttermilk Heat oven to 425. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Pour into oiled iron skillet. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. I got this recipe last summer when I visited Beverly Whitehead at the Smoky Mountain Native Plants… Read More →
Collard Kraut
by David Cecelski I was on US 111 in southern Duplin County, on my way to a MLK, Jr. Day event at St. Thomas AME Zion Church in Swansboro, when I saw the sign for collard kraut. It was in the front yard of a farmhouse in between the little communities of Lyman and… Read More →
Huitlacoche
by David Cecelski The other day, my daughter and I tried Crazy Taco in Smithfield for the first time. Itâs a tiny little take-out stand located at the intersection of South 5th Street and Brogden Road, in an older residential neighborhood that is home to a lot of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants.     My daughter is a vegetarian… Read More →
Black-Eyed Peas and Hog Jowls
by David Cecelski These are photographs from the Littleton Lions Clubâs annual New Years Day Black-Eyed Peas and Hog Jowls Dinner. Itâs a great public event, with proceeds going to a host of good charities. The clubâs volunteers serve a traditional New Years Day dinner of black-eyed peas and hog jowls, collard greens, sweet… Read More →
Craven County corn
by David Cecelski   My great-uncle Everett, Iâve been told, was a legendary bootlegger. He made his reputation more than half a century ago, but I occasionally still meet people who knew him back then. Only last summer, my brother and I met an old acquaintance of Everettâs in Sampson County. The fellow was astonished… Read More →
Fried Sweet Potatoes
by David Cecelski My 88-year-old cousin Edsel and I were talking and smoking cigars last night when he pointed to a bushel box of sweet potatoes curing on his back porch. H.B. Taylor, a local farmer, had left them for him that morning. Â âThatâs for a rainy day,â he told me. Edsel had it all… Read More →
Consomé de Borrego
NCFOOD readers, please click here to read about supporting the work of the North Carolina Folklife Institute! by David Cecelski     The house specialty at Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant, in Four Oaks, is lamb broth, consomĂ© de borrego. This casual little eateryâs proprietors moved to this little agricultural town in Johnston County from Veracruz, on the Gulf of… Read More →
Keaton’s
by David Cecelski I found Keatonâs on a quiet, dark stretch of Cool Springs Road, betweenStatesville and Mocksville. Itâs an old plank building surrounded by woods. Outside, the parking lot was full and cars lined both sides of the road. Founded by a legendary African-American âcue man named Burette Walker Keaton, the restaurant has been serving barbecue… Read More →
Pintos and Cornbread
by David Cecelski     The sign on the outside of the Cook Shack, on US 901 in Union Grove, in Iredell County, says âSandwiches. Groceries. Guns. Ammo. Hunting Licenses.â But you walk in the front door on a Saturday morning and itâs a whole lot more: a freewheeling country, old-time, and gospel music… Read More →
Korner Kitchen
by David Cecelski KORNER KITCHEN I was driving through the little Amish community between Hamptonville and Yadkinville, on the Yadkin-Iredell County Line, when I found the Korner Kitchen Restaurant. When I drove by, a very Amish-looking fellow on a tractor was ordering his lunch at the restaurantâs take-out window, something I donât see every… Read More →