by Deborah Miller Daddy was a traveling salesman. As regional sales director for Blue Cross/Blue Shield in the late 50’s/early ‘60’s, he drove all over North Carolina trying to sign up companies for a new plan called “group insurance.” He was gone a lot, and often late for dinner, but he was still the guy… Read More →
Fermented cabbage
by Elijah Gaddis When we put out the call for NCFood posts on fermentation, we had no idea we’d get two so close together! But fermentation, the ages-old method of preserving foods, is a hot topic. Yes, it tastes great, but it also deconstructs the confines of the growing season. Thanks to both Elijah Gaddis… Read More →
My First Rooster Kill
by Ronda Birtha I’m going to guess that for many people reading this post, killing a rooster is not a big deal. So I’m just going to ask all of you to whom this is old hat … please indulge this city girl. I’ve known Bill and Janet Silver from Murphy, NC for about 9… Read More →
Priddy’s General Store
by Malinda Dunlap Fillingim Sometimes a girl just wants a simple sandwich with nothing fancy on it, just bites of goodness. That’s what I wanted one summer day after hiking at Hanging Rock. My old legs were telling me to rest and my stomach was telling me to eat. I listened to both and headed… Read More →
Pepper Preservation: Two Experiments
by Laura Fieselman Tomorrow is the new moon, and for those who plant by tradition the Farmers’ Almanac indicates it’s time to set out the very first plants of the season (which would be peas). But this year it seems like the frosts just keep on coming and coming and coming … we’re sharing a… Read More →
Downtown Bakery, Murphy, NC
by Ronda L. Birtha When Margie Freel Carpenter said that she is the kind of person who looks for a bakery as she travels about, I knew exactly what she meant and why she meant it. A good hometown bakery is to a neighborhood what your favorite room is to your home: the place where… Read More →
A Pot of Hospitality
by Malinda Dunlap Fillingim A big pot of pinto beans lived at Mama Dunlap’s Stokes County home. Her cast iron frying pan held golden cracklin’ corn bread she made each morning before the sun woke up. When her oven got hot enough to melt the unmeasured lard, she put the cornbread batter in, telling me to… Read More →
Simmering Stew Brings a Community Together
by Ray Linville The center of small town is not always a town hall, courthouse, or church. Sometimes it’s a pot of bubbling stew as it is each fall in Mount Gilead, a community of slightly more than 1,000 residents in Montgomery County. Although the community is small, just about everyone knows about the Brunswick… Read More →
How a Slice of Pie Became a History Lesson
by Joy Salyers Last week I was sitting at the high counter in my mother’s Hillsborough kitchen with her and her best friend of more than three decades, who was down for a visit. We had in front of us plates of pumpkin pie that my mother had made. I guess some folks just eat… Read More →
Sweet Potatoes: Providing Fresh Food for the Needy
by Ray Linville Please contact the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina directly f you are needing food: 919-875-0707 North Carolina produces about half of all the sweet potatoes grown in the United States, and it has consistently ranked as the top producing state for more than 30 years. More than half of… Read More →