Discomfort Food: Dr. Kelley Deetz

Food archaeologist and author Dr. Kelley Deetz documents American history, specifically African American history, through its vittles. 

In her book, "Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine,” she traces the preparation of everyday dishes back to enslaved people in 18th- and 19th-century plantation home kitchens, highlighting how they introduced ingredients from their African homelands and employed cooking methods that have stuck to the nation's ribs.

To read my Richmond Magazine Q&A with Kelley Deetz, go here.

For my previous Savor Virginia Magazine coverage of the book, go here.

(Photo courtesy of Dr. Kelley Deetz) 

Bourbon and Beef: Ragged Branch Craft Distillery

It was the best hamburger I ever ate... and the bourbon wasn't bad either.

For Savor Virginia Magazine, I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon at the Ragged Branch Craft Distillery in scenic south Ivy, near Charlottesville. I came for the bourbon and stayed for the burgers and hospitality.

Here, on the 92-acre Ragged Mountain Farm, Alex Toomy and his team grow and grind their own grain; malt, mash and distill it; and finally age and bottle Ragged Branch label bourbon. They also feed the bourbon mash to their cattle, and damned if it doesn't produce the tenderest beef you've ever encountered.

Go to the Savor Virginia website and read my feature article on Ragged Branch, and learn how the late bourbon master David Pickerell helped Toomy launch the brand.  The link is here. 

And for more on Ragged Branch Craft Distillery, go right here.

(Photo of Bootlegger courtesy of Ragged Branch Craft Distillery)

The History of Hardywood

Eric McKay and Patrick Murtaugh can recall the exact day that they knew the small craft beer venture they’d co-founded—Hardywood Park Craft Brewery—was going to make it.

“It was the first event at our downtown Richmond facility, July 4, 2012, just after it became legal in Virginia to sell in a taproom,” company president McKay recalls. Recently opened, the brewery’s small staff prepared for 500 patrons, but 4,000 showed up, he says. “People were everywhere. I’m sure there were attendees there who were like, ‘We’ve got to start a brewery.'”

It sort of seems that way. In Virginia’s exploding craft beer universe—from 35 to 200 breweries in just the past few years—Hardywood has led the way.

My in-depth Q&A with McKay and Murtaugh for Savor Virginia examines the history of Hardywood -- it all started on a sheep farm in Australia -- and how the duo continue to spearhead Virginia's craft beer revolution.

Read the article right here. 

And for more on Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, go right here. 

(Photo by the mighty Todd Wright)

Bound to the Fire: Virginia's Enslaved Cooks

Kelley Fanto Deetz says she’s “restoring culinary justice” with her new book, "Bound to the Fire: How Virginia's Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine." 

“I think food is an important part of everyone’s culture, and it’s a topic that allows you to segue into talking about other issues, like race,” she says. “Everybody eats.”

The book, published by University Press of Kentucky, explores the lasting contributions of the early slave kitchens of Virginia—tracing everything from okra stew to collard greens to gumbo back to West African roots. Deetz pieces together the lives of the colony’s enslaved cooks, detailing their back-breaking labor and ingenuity, and her book includes centuries-only recipes created by slaves and passed down from generation to generation by white masters.

Some of the dishes that came out of the early slave kitchens will be familiar indeed. You probably ate them last night. My Savor Virginia Magazine interview with the Randolph College professor, and former chef, is now online. (And, yes, it does include recipes). Read the article here.

And for more on "Bound to the Fire: How Virginia's Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine, go right here.

Take the Richmond Barbecue Tour

Too much pork for just one fork.

I don't do much food writing, but I have a greater appreciation for the work of my taste-describing brethren after my latest assignment from Savor Virginia magazine.

My cover feature in Savor's March/April edition is all about the barbecue renaissance happening in Richmond, Virginia. Tangy, salty, tomato-y, sweet, hashed, pulled, minced or deliciously charred -- whatever your preference, it can be found in the RVA region.

Some spots may be more authentic, others a bit more adventurous, or a little pricier, but RVA is filled with mouthwatering ‘que -- King's, Alexander's, Alamo, Buz and Ned's, Ronnie's, Extra Billy's, HogsHead Cafe, Q Barbeque and more.

Take the Richmond Barbecue Tour with me by clicking here, and don’t forget the bib.

(Photo by the mighty Jim Pile!)

The Last of the Old-Time Moonshiners

A few years ago, working with the Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College, I trudged through the Franklin County woods to talk one on one with veteran moonshiner Jimmy Boyd.

Brewing up mountain dew has been a family tradition for Boyd, who learned how to cook up homemade whiskey from his brother, who learned it from his daddy.  “There’s something ‘mother about making it that just draws a person to it,” he says. “It’s almost like it’s habit forming, just like drinking it.”

My in-depth Q&A with Mr. Boyd, where he reveals the secrets of making illegal whiskey and recounts his clashes with revenuers and spying neighbors, has been published in the latest edition of Savor Virginia magazine.

Read "The Last of the Old-Time Moonshiners" by going right here.

And for more on the history of moonshine in Virginia, visit the Blue Ridge Institute's page right here.

(Photo by the mighty Pat Jarrett at the Virginia Foundation For the Humanities!)

Prohibition at the Library of Virginia

What a difference 100 years can make.

In 1914, when Virginians voted to completely ban alcohol -- three years ahead of national Prohibition—it was the start of an ambitious social experiment that seems worlds away from our experience today, as Virginia now wholly embraces wineries, craft breweries, distilleries and all things hooch.

My Savor Virginia feature article on the Library of Virginia's intoxicating (and, considering the changing times, ironic) exhibit, "Teetotalers and Moonshiners: Prohibition in Virginia, Distilled," has been posted to the magazine's website.

Click here and drink up.

And for more on this excellent Library of Virginia exhibit, and related events, go right here.

(Broadside photo: The Library of Virginia)