Southern Food in a Nutshell (John T. Edge Interview)

The current edition (#31) of Chicago's own Stop Smiling magazine is an "Ode to the South". Unfortunately, the content isn't online, but there's an interview with John T. Edge that had this bit I thought worth sharing:

Stop Smiling: If you had to define Southern food to a foreigner, how would you describe it?

Edge: Pork and corn -- a thousand iterations on those basic building blocks. And I'd take them into a discussion of race, and the debt that has yet to be repaid to African-American contributions, and African contributions, to Southern food. If I was talking to a European, I'd start by talking about jazz or something they might be able to draw some parallels to, because I think many can grasp the subtlety and sophistication of jazz.

The rest of the interview is more about food culture than food, and only a two-page spread in the magazine, but I enjoyed it.

Also of culinary interest is a brief story on Leah Chase of Dooky Chase restaurant in New Orleans (including a few recipes).