Sequestered in Memphis
"And I may be obliged to defend, every love, every ending, or maybe there's no obligations now."
Sequestered in Memphis
In the fall of 2006 I invited the writers Matt and Ted Lee to join me for dinner at the Palace Kitchen while they were coming through Seattle on a book tour stop for their multi-award-winning debut, The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. I was a fan of their food writing and had been following their byline for years before having the chance to meet them in person during the 2005 Book Expo in Washington, DC. We hit it off and stayed in touch, and reconnected in Charleston and here in Brooklyn. They both remain creative inspirations to my work and I’m very grateful we’ve remained good friends.
But it was at that dinner where the guys suggested I take the time to attend the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium, an annual gathering to study, explore, and celebrate the diverse food cultures of the changing American South, attended by an eclectic group of writers, media, restaurateurs, bartenders, artisans, farmers, distillers, brewers. In October 2008 I flew from Seattle to Memphis, then drove a rental car down to Oxford, just shy of an hour-and-a-half away. That year’s theme, fittingly, was “The Liquid South” and I whet my whistle with moonshine, sparkling muscadine wine, fresh and tangy buttermilk, sour beers and southern lagers from Fullsteam Brewery, Cheerwine, Dr. Pepper, and whole a lot of bourbon.
I returned to Oxford to attend each year’s Symposium for a decade straight until book deadlines and book tours and other commitments prevented me from regularly attending. Though I’ve been fortunate to spend more time in Oxford while working on and promoting my book, Last Call, (shout out to Square Books, one of the finest independent bookstores in America for their continue support of my work).
But the one constant of each of these trips to Oxford was traveling through Memphis, and I quickly learned to arrive early that Thursday afternoon and plan to fly out later on Sunday to allow myself a few hours on each side of the weekend to continue to explore Memphis’ food scene. In time I had punched my Memphis barbecue card at Charlie Vergos Rendezvous, Central BBQ, Interstate Barbecue, Cozy Corner BBQ, Payne’s BBQ, and the Germantown Commissary, along with Soul Burgers at Earnestine & Hazel’s. I also had the chance to visit cultural institutions like the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel, The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and, of course, Graceland. And I’d always make time for a box of three-piece dark and a slice of chess pie from Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken which would ride shotgun in my rental car passenger seat on the drive down to Oxford.
Hog & Hominy
But one must-visit among the many offerings in Memphis was Hog & Hominy, which served as an informal, impromptu gathering spot for SFA attendees on their way to or from the weekend Symposium. The kind of place where strangers and new friends might join you at the bar or pull a chair over to join you at their table to share a slice of pie (oh, that pie…).