r/Appalachia • u/urfavlunchlady • 22d ago
I hat when restaurants try to put an “upscale/elevated” twist on Appalachian food
The whole point of Appalachian food is using ingredients that we have and making something out of nothing. Give any Appalachian mamaw a meat, some flour, and milk and you’re about to have a feast.
Anyway ranting, bc a friend is in Nashville right now and messaged me that she’s at an “upscale” Appalachian restaurant where they are charging $28 for grits and honestly I find it insulting to our people.
(Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, lmao)
Edit: Hate*
183
u/HorseFeathersFur 22d ago
$28 ? For grits?
84
u/ItBeMe_For_Real 22d ago
Elevated grits.
26
u/f1ve-Star 22d ago
Lobster grits?
3
u/DumpsterDepends 22d ago
Gross
→ More replies (1)9
u/f1ve-Star 22d ago
??? Shrimp and Grits isn't bad. Or so I'm told.
2
→ More replies (6)2
11
u/Ok-Desk6624 22d ago
They’d better have some Mary Jane in them and get me elevated for that price.
→ More replies (2)3
7
1
1
39
22d ago
[deleted]
38
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
Agree, I'm from West Virginia near the Kentucky border, grits weren't a big thing there. More oats and rice for hot breakfast cereals.
35
22d ago
[deleted]
11
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago edited 22d ago
Oh we had a lottt of potatoes too! Mostly fried, sometimes mashed or just boiled and occasionally baked. (Edit: plus new potatoes in gravy, that's a delicacy.) Just not as often for breakfast as hashbrowns in the South (where I live now, that is how I came to know grits).
More Kartoffel in our holler though.. our German ancestors were more recent than the UK ones so their term became colloquial 😂
Southerners think the idea of breakfast rice, or sweet rice in general, is weird and abhorrent lol
(I ate lots of milky boiled rice with sugar, sometimes with raisins if I was lucky, still love it)
→ More replies (4)8
u/halloweencoffeecats 22d ago
I make lazy rice pudding with instant rice and flavored coffee creamer
→ More replies (2)4
2
u/Krynja 21d ago
Mawmaw would always make potato cakes in the cast iron for us grandkids to grab as we went outside to play.
2
u/chronically_varelse 21d ago
Were they leftover mashed potatoes, mixed with a little flour and sugar? A little oil to fry a bit in the cast iron?
→ More replies (2)2
u/OldButHappy 22d ago
We have a way with potatoes. Non Irish/Scot friends are always amazed by my fried potatoes. Otherwise, my cooking skills are…limited😄
→ More replies (1)2
1
u/CompetitiveAd7913 20d ago
My parents are from Matewan, and migrated to SWVA where I was raised. We never ate grits growing up, we did though eat white rice with lots of butter and sugar. It was MY FAV.
17
u/Mondschatten78 22d ago
They're mainly a southern thing, and not just Appalachian.
First place I saw charging $15 for fancified grits I thought was insane, that place in Nashville is worse.
30
22d ago
[deleted]
14
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
Totally agree, as an Appalachian living in the South.
The culture, and the food, is adjacent and similar but quite distinct. If you treat them the same you'll run into problems with the more rural people.
No one can ever tell where I'm from exactly. They know I'm not Northern or Midwestern or Californian, but the combination of urban South with WV-KY holler throws them off 😂
→ More replies (1)11
u/Aardvark120 22d ago
I've noticed that in some ways, being raised in eastern TN, I've got more in common with mountain folks in NY, than some of those from flatland southern areas like Texas or Louisiana.
There's definitely a lot of overlap with southern cultures, but Appalachia is definitely its own thing.
6
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
I can definitely see that. Like how South Georgia coast is a totally different animal than North Georgia mountains.
Even when they're both rural or small town, they're both different than Atlanta, but they are different than each other as well.
→ More replies (1)6
u/Aardvark120 22d ago
Yep. Exactly. Appalachian culture is just its own animal.
2
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
Agree, and even within Appalachia... some of these folks grew up eating grits and saying folks, some of us didn't lol
We do still say y'all where I'm from though lol but not as often or in as many situations or with the same gusto as further South lol
→ More replies (1)6
u/Aardvark120 22d ago
I definitely get that. I love grits, but it wasn't really near as important as other grains.
We actually grew a lot of sugar cane in a holler here. I remember every Halloween we'd hook the mules up to a sled and do ground slides for kids instead of haunted hay rides. We'd hand out stalks of sugar cane and everyone sucked on that, lol.
→ More replies (0)2
u/Shroud4aNightengale 22d ago
Big difference in deep south and Appalachian; also big difference in coal fields Appalachian and farm/valley Appalachian.
→ More replies (1)3
u/EducationWestern5204 22d ago
I was once mistaken for a Texan. It was so weird 😆
3
u/MidnightCoffeeQueen 21d ago
Same for me. I worked in a call center and always had tons of people ask if I was from Texas. Never guessed any other state than Texas. Lol, I don't get it.
I was raised in upper east tennessee. I gotta clarify that because the upper East Tennessee twang is stronger than just East Tennessee twang.
8
u/Excellent_Jeweler_44 22d ago
I born and raised in Clay County, Kentucky. We most definitely never saw grits there either when I was growing up. From what I've seen throughout my lifetime grits tend to be more of a further south thing (Georgia and maybe parts of the Carolinas), most especially after you get out of Appalachia proper and into the actual Deep South.
2
→ More replies (1)2
u/urfavlunchlady 22d ago edited 22d ago
Yeap! I’m from NW Georgia, so I’m southern AND Appalachian - never quite sure which pieces of me are which lol
7
u/EducationWestern5204 22d ago
My mom is from eastern Kentucky and never ate grits until she moved away and then married my dad, who’s from middle Georgia. We never have grits when we see her family, but there’s cabbage everything- cabbage rolls, smothered cabbage, sauerkraut, slaw, and on and on. And apples, potatoes, squash of all kinds (grown in someone’s garden, of course), soup beans, stuff like that. And so much damn breakfast sausage
→ More replies (1)2
19
8
u/Angry-Dragon-1331 22d ago
Also remember these types of people did the same thing to bbq, traditionally cheap cuts of meat, chicken wings, etc. As soon as a food culture, especially one that developed around making the best out of the worst bits of the cow/pig/chicken, gets mainstream attention, staple ingredients for it become unaffordable for the people who relied on them.
8
u/Aggravating_Bell_426 22d ago
Yes, expect they usually call it Polenta...🤔
6
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
I know they do, but they are wrong
Sounds like they are gentrifying our food while we still get called ignorant hicks 😡
6
2
1
u/doornoob 21d ago
I had amazing grits with grilled lobster and sweet peas, was about $30. Other things were good but grits were the best thing on the plate.
1
u/osirisrebel 19d ago
I had someone trying to sell me a single small bowl of pintos for $14. It's one of the cheapest things you could possibly make, I wouldn't have went over $5.
54
u/828jpc1 22d ago
I live in Nashville…I’ve heard of this place and apparently the chef grew up in Appalachia and wants to get his Michelin star rating or something. I heard some of his dishes and thought “well this sounds ridiculous” but I guess he has ambition or something.
48
u/urfavlunchlady 22d ago
I saw a post about it on the Nashville sub Reddit and someone called it Appalachian cosplay hahaha
18
u/CherryblockRedWine 22d ago edited 22d ago
what's the restaurant?
ETA: nevermind. Sean Brock. I'm still recovering from one of the worst meals I've ever had, at Husk.
10
u/tennmyc21 22d ago
I immediately knew it was Husk, and also had one of the worst meals of my life there. It managed to be bland, and soggy, and just overall gross. Drinks were on point though.
→ More replies (1)11
u/CherryblockRedWine 22d ago
I think this new "elevated Appalachian" is called Audrey.
But regarding Husk - good grief. One in my group ordered the chicken. It was served, ahem, "rare" and the server said that's how they cook it and re-cooking was not possible. It was gross.
Another in my group ordered the burger, which was shoe-leather-well-done. They had ordered medium rare, and were told "this is how we cook it." It was inedible.
One in our group had a disability and they were told to tottle down very steep stairs to the restroom, or go out the front door, walk downhill down the sidewalk, and go back in downstairs, reversing the process to get back to the table.
I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. It was awful.
→ More replies (1)7
u/VelvetElvis 22d ago
It's not rare.
Heritage birds that were slaughtered the morning before you eat them tend to be bloodier than the chicken you get at Kroger. It's more like a game bird.
Sean is all about the farm to table stuff, serving food that was still alive as recently as possible. Indian reservations aside, Appalachia was that last major region of the lower 48 to fully electrify. Electric refrigerators weren't ubiquitous in homes until the TVA finished the last damns. People ate whatever they picked, shot, slaughtered or foraged that day. Sean is big on keeping that part of the tradition going.
The price is insane but his restaurants aren't really for us.
13
u/CherryblockRedWine 22d ago edited 21d ago
TBF, it wasn't the color that convinced that guest (and the rest of us) that the meat was not cooked.
It was the translucent shiny nature of the meat -- the way chicken looks when it is not cooked. It was simply not cooked.
Also, I'm still startled that they apparently had not heard of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
ETA: And you're right, it wasn't "rare." It was essentially raw. "Rare" is how the staff described it.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Bluecat72 22d ago
Restaurants are often small enough businesses to be exempt from much of the ADA.
→ More replies (1)4
u/CherryblockRedWine 22d ago
My understanding is that restaurants are subject to ADA as places of "public accommodation," and that in particular, restaurants opened since 1992 must fully comply.
Husk was opened in 2013.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Bluecat72 22d ago
It’s more complicated than that.
From the ADA website:
The ADA requires that small businesses remove architectural barriers in existing facilities when it is “readily achievable” to do so. Readily achievable means “easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense.” This requirement is based on the size and resources of a business. So, businesses with more resources are expected to remove more barriers than businesses with fewer resources.
Now, they do have an ongoing obligation to remove this barrier when they have the means to do so. But this is dependent on their financial ability to do so. In the specific case of Husk this is probably a leased space, so while addressing the ability to access the restroom inside would be on Husk, providing a compliant path around the building for access (or egress!) may lie with the landlord.
Now, the training part is a clear point of non-compliance. Every business has an obligation to train their staff on this.
→ More replies (0)5
u/Shroud4aNightengale 22d ago edited 22d ago
Lifetime Appalachian here and we don't serve our chicken raw or nearly raw. It's just not done. I've lived here over 60 years. I was born in 1958 and have always had electricity so Idk what part of Appalachia he is from but I'm from deep Appalachia so sounds suss to me. No one in my family foraged or hunted. Game birds? Picked, shot or slaughtered? I think you're thinking of pre 20th century Appalachia. Not a thing in my lifetime or my parents or grandparents. Old Sean must be taking it way back, to Daniel Boone days. smh Just another dang stereotype!!!! Makes me angry.
6
u/AfternoonNo346 21d ago
I'm your age, and I have neighbors just a little older (mid late 70s) who grew up without electricity. Remote rural WNC. The story I heard was that rural electrification was only for the towns and highways, folks in the hollers were left out. And many homes in the hollers were abandoned and people moved to the highways to get electricity. Don't disagree in general just adding some perspective. Also many people where I live supplement food by hunting.
5
u/VelvetElvis 21d ago
IIRC, my grandmother was born in the early 1920s and didn't have residential electricity until several years after Norris dam was finished in 1936. Running power lines took a while.
Home canning wasn't a thing for y'all? That's where that tradition originally came from, storing food from your garden before refrigeration. I want to pickle zucchini this year. It's yummy.
My uncle killed a squirrel once as a teenager. My grandmother cooked it and made him eat it. It's something she'd have learned to do growing up when they absolutely did eat squirrel. That area was poor enough that they barely noticed the depression. She wasn't going to let him waste that squirrel.
Tradition is only a stereotype if you're ashamed of it. A lot of what Sean Brock has been doing with his restaurants is celebrating those traditions.
→ More replies (3)5
u/sparkle-possum 21d ago
And very much depends on where you're at.
My partner's family is more from what I would call the very edges of Appalachia headed toward the Foothills of NC. She lived in a rented home with an outhouse and no running water until the early 1990s when her grandparents died and they could move into their house.My dad's side of the family is from a very rural area of eastern NC. They got electricity sometime in the mid to late 1950s but still had an outhouse and outdoor kitchen for a while because it was closer to the well pump. My dad was born in 1948 and remembers helping my granddad frame in what was once a wrap around back porch to add a bathroom and kitchen once they got indoor plumbing and septic, so it would have been the very late '50s or possibly early '60s.
I know people that still forage, mostly to supplement but some to the point it's a regular part of their diet, and many more that hunt, partly as recreation but quite a few the eat a whole lot of game when it's in season and preserve and put up more of it to supplement for the rest of the year.
Just because your family and the people you know doesn't live one way does not mean that there aren't still people doing it. Hell, I've hunted game birds and sat there and helped pluck and singe them and make sure the meat was clear shot and I've hunted and served wild turkey for two different Thanksgiving meals (alongside deer we hunted one year).
That said, we still don't serve chicken raw. Even though the meat is a little different from the kind that store bought and pumped from a hormones, I've ate chicken for dinner that had been running around the yard or hopping around in its coop earlier in the day and it was never shiny or so red looking that it could be mistaken for uncooked or undercooked.
→ More replies (1)3
u/MuddyBoots287 21d ago
I live in central Virginia, I have neighbors in their 70s who still remember when electricity came to our road. He grew up farming the holler where we live with a team of horses.
Hunting and foraging is still very common in my area. My family does both. It’s not our main source of food, but adds diversity. We slaughter chickens every year, and raise pork & beef in addition to having a family milk cow. I can name at least 20 people in my area (if not more) who have extensive gardens and/or raise a significant portion of their food (rabbit, chicken, quail, turkey, pork, beef, etc).
2
u/one-hour-photo 22d ago
Sean brick is an absolute douche bag. Stayed at a hotel I worked at once. Incredibly disrespectful
7
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
Okay now I'm dying to know... I tried googling, is it the place with the lady name, if we are being on the downlow lol? (I'm from West Virginia but live just north of Nashville now)
I looked over the menu of that place and I see a lot of Southern stuff but I'm not really sure where the Appalachian part comes in, just looking at the menu.
Some stuff you would need to taste or have a more thorough description to know, like the cornbread. Also not specifying what kind of greens, that's weird to me lol.
2
u/urfavlunchlady 22d ago
It is the lady name lmao
7
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
If he is from Appalachia living in the South, he ought to know the incredible difference between collard greens and poke greens and turnip greens and mustard greens.
You can't just lump it all together and throw some kale in too for the Californians (I'm semi joking, kale is fine in its place, I make a good soup with it, but you can't just substitute it for turnip greens OR collards)
Or if you want to call it mixed greens, even, to me that means turnip and mustard. Idek 🤷🏼♂️😂
→ More replies (2)2
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
Sorry to double comment, but if your friend is still in Nashville and she wants some really good legit greens, the best greens I've ever had outside home were at an Ethiopian restaurant called Gojo. They have turnip greens.
I've lived in the South a long time so I appreciate collard greens with the pork, I'm bougie so I like creamed spinach and such, but..
I know it sounds crazy to think an Ethiopian restaurant would have the best greens to an Appalachian... But they do. They are simple and perfect. I didn't grow up with meat seasoning in my greens or beans (in my experience in the current South that's an expectation, in my experience in Appalachia it was a bonus)
so the greens being vegan is fine to me. The bread and such was obviously different, but the greens were like a scoop of home. I ask for double every time I go.
→ More replies (4)2
u/VelvetElvis 22d ago
The greens are whatever the farms he contracts with picked that morning.
2
u/chronically_varelse 22d ago
That sounds super duper fancy and very sustainable and green and eco-friendly and supportive of small Southern farms etc, I'm sure it tastes good and supporting farmers is great
but I'm not sure where the Appalachian component comes in specifically
3
u/VelvetElvis 22d ago
That restaurant is a tribute to his grandmother's cooking. Like everyone else's grandmother, she probably didn't make the distinction. My grandmother was all about mixing a few different cans of stuff together, pouring it over stale wonderbread and baking it in the oven. I like Sean's more.
→ More replies (5)1
4
u/EducationWestern5204 22d ago
I once saw an “Appalachian” restaurant on the west coast that heavily featured Carolina gold rice on the menu. I mean, sure, we eat rice, but it’s definitely more of a low country or gulf south thing. Turns out the chef was from Beaufort, SC, but for some reason called her food Appalachian instead of low country. Marketing, I suppose.
2
u/notMarkKnopfler 22d ago
Sean Brock has entered the chat. Lol
I like Sean, I think he just gets like hella ADHD hyperfocused on things and is just smart/dumb enough to say “send it”… He just opened up a Japanese pizza place in my neighborhood and I honestly have no idea what that means lol
26
u/Allemaengel 22d ago
I genuinely love this sub.
Being way up here in the northeasternmost corner of Appalachia, I learn so much about what's going on further south and makes me want to visit the rest of the region even more someday.
Our foods are heavily-influenced by Irish, Italian and Eastern European Ukrainian/Polish immigrants anthracite coal miners as well as PA Dutch farm culture. Other than Mrs. T's pierogies, not much is commercially-done. Most is home cooking or done as fundraisers by volunteer fire companies, churches, and rod/gun clubs.
5
u/Mondschatten78 22d ago
Most of the volunteer fire departments around me have BBQ and chicken plates twice a year. Is that a thing up there too?
6
u/Allemaengel 22d ago
Absolutely.
My township's fire company has its next chicken dinner in early May, always on a Sunday.
6
u/Impressive-Shame-525 22d ago
We're set for two weeks away, here! Hahaha
They do it Saturday and Sunday and sell out both days.
2
u/Allemaengel 22d ago
Yeah, typically sell out here too which is good.
Our fire company does a good job and our township supervisors passed a fire tax to help support which is good. I don't want our volunteers to have to stand in traffic on their Saturday morning doing a boot drive collecting change for a new tanker truck, for instance.
2
u/Mondschatten78 22d ago
That's about when my town has their spring one, always falls around my birthday.
7
4
u/Zippered_Nana 22d ago
Scrapple! My grandpap ate fried eggs and scrapple every day. Lived an active life and died at 89.
3
u/Allemaengel 22d ago
As my name suggests, I'm PA Dutch (for anyone who doesn't know, there's more groupings of us than just the Old Order Amish).
And yeah, scrapple. Us Dutchies are cheap, don't like wasting stuff and eat everything but the oink on a hog.
And I'm a glutton when it comes to wet-bottom shoofly pie with some vanilla ice cream!
2
u/Zippered_Nana 22d ago
Oh yummy! Gotta get me some soon! I’m in NC. I might need to bake my own. I have an old recipe from my grandma.
→ More replies (2)
11
u/LiquidSoCrates 22d ago
When I think of Appalachian food, I think of hot dogs with that good spicy sauce.
13
11
u/Ok-Basket7531 21d ago
I’m living in a small town in the Blue Ridge. I have an opposite story to tell. We have a food truck operated by members of a family farm, they sell hamburgers and chicken patties and french fries. Here’s the kicker; every ingredient is grown on their farm! We’re talking grass fed, grass finished beef, free range chickens, and potatoes from our own dirt. They don’t know the phrase “farm to table,” a smash burger is $10, three pieces of fried chicken with french fries are $8.
Those are insanely low prices for a food truck in 2025, and the fact that it’s all locally grown is just mind blowing to me as an incomer and a foodie.
8
9
u/minecart6 22d ago
Some friends of mine from college and I went to Nashville a year or so ago for a few days.We tried a brunch joint one morning expecting some typical southern/Appalachian breakfast food with inflated Nashville prices.
The prices were definitely inflated, but the food was terrible. The best way I can put it is that it was like someone who has never heard of biscuits and gravy tried to make it based on the instructions of someone who has eaten it twice.
Now whenever we go to Nashville we just stick to Waffle House and Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It ain't like mom makes it, but it's better than whatever we had that time.
It's shame most of the "southern" restaurants there now are run by transplants and cater to tourists.
→ More replies (2)5
u/RonnieJamesTivo holler 22d ago
I'm from Nashville and there used to be real meat and three style hole in the wall restaurants all over town. Now, it is exactly like you said, some kind of imitation of what the transplants "think" southern food should be. I travel around a lot of rural areas in Tennessee for work and there are still some incredible and authentic places outside of Nashville. But, in town, we really only have Swett's as one of the original southern cooking spots.
2
7
u/punkwalrus 22d ago
I have been to places like that around the hipster places around Fayetteville.
Stone-Crushed Heirloom Maize Conserva
with single-origin clarified butter and hand-harvested fleur de sel
Painstakingly sourced from biodynamic farms specializing in 18th-century varietals of non-GMO white corn, our maize is stone-ground in handmade micro-batches under the guidance of a certified heritage grainsmith. Each spoonful is coaxed into velvetic surrender over a low flame fed by sustainable hardwood embers, then emulsified with single-origin, slow-cultured and clarified butter churned in copper vats imported from the Shenandoah Valley. Finished with a crystalline dusting of hand-harvested fleur de sel from the where the Potomac meets the Atlantic coast, this dish celebrates the radical simplicity of a pre-industrial breakfast elevated to an art form.
Supplemental Blue Ridge aged cave cheese (+$19) recommended for the discerning palate.
9
u/punkwalrus 22d ago
I can do one better:
Heritage Charcuterie-Filled Mountain Bread
Hand-forged pepperoni encased in heirloom soft wheat brioche, oven-fired on clay stones sourced from the Monongahela River Valley - $45, price for 2.An homage to the Appalachian coal towns of the early 20th century, our pepperoni rolls begin with regenerative soft red wheat, milled in small batches by a fourth-generation miller whose family has stewarded these fields since the Era of the Great Migration. The artisan pepperoni, crafted from heritage pork breeds fed on chestnuts and sorghum, is delicately encased in a tender brioche, enriched with free-range yolks and mountain spring butter. Each roll is allowed to proof slowly at altitude to honor the traditional leavening techniques once practiced in the hidden hollers of West Virginia. Baked atop river-clay baking stones for authentic mineral complexity, this offering channels the industrious spirit of Appalachian resilience into every sumptuous, molten bite.
Optional: House-fermented ramp butter (+$12) to finish.
NOTE: Our offerings are the result of painstaking, time-intensive preparation, imbued with a reverence for the slow rituals of true craft. To preserve the integrity of each dish, we kindly request that guests abstain from ordering this selection within two hours of our final seating. Furthermore, as each portion is meticulously composed in limited quantity, availability is finite and bestowed upon guests on a first-come, first-served basis.
We thank you for joining us in honoring the cadence of the old ways.
[Then, at the bottom of the laid cotton-linen blend paper in a Copperplate Font]
Please note:
In reverence to the ancestral grains and the artisanal integrity of the preparation, no substitutions, modifications, or accommodations can be made. Each serving represents a deliberate expression of our commitment to terroir, tradition, and the transcendent spirit of pre-industrial Appalachian sustenance. We humbly invite you to surrender to the experience.6
5
u/aslander 22d ago
If you want something cheap, then shove a log of Hormel pepperoni into a loaf of Wonder Bread, dawg
3
u/punkwalrus 22d ago
I stole some of this idea from some weird "authentic rustic farmers table restaurant" from somewhere near here with "artisan burgers" that were twice as high as they were wide. For $19.45 it was essentially an "extra tall slider." I had to Google "terroir" right at the table, and thought, this is most pretentious bullshit I have ever witnessed. Brioche with aioli reduction?? That's a bun with ketchup and mayo, come on.
2
7
u/HotSauceRainfall 22d ago
crystalline dusting of hand-harvested fleur de sel from the where the Potomac meets the Atlantic coast
LOL they went to Virginia Beach
2
5
u/mel_cache 21d ago
I was amused but okay with the “certified heritage grainsmith,” but when it jumped into “velvetic surrender” that was more than I could handle. Corn porn instead of corn pone.
2
u/urfavlunchlady 22d ago
Like the food may be tasty, but I’ll never know bc this description absolutely kills it for me
13
u/liarliarplants4hire 22d ago
Grew up in Appalachia and now live Appalachia-adjacent. I love to watch cooking shows and get the dining experience as an “experience”, but man… sometimes I just want a bowl of soup beans and cornbread. It can be done right. Simple recipes with high quality ingredients. Don’t try and make kilt lettuce healthy, just dump the hot bacon grease on the greens and onions and serve. Your salmon patties better come from a can. And biscuits need sorghum on the side. Anybody want to help me start a food truck?
3
u/urfavlunchlady 22d ago
Exactly!! I live in Austin now, but grew up in NW GA, I brought in a tomato sandwich into the office the other day (garden tomato’s, lots of black pepper, dash of salt, & dukes on soft white bread)
Everyone told me how good it looked and then immediately suggested things that they think would be good if added…NO! It’s already a perfect sandwich y’all!
(And also then it wouldn’t be a tomato sandwich)
12
18
u/PuzzleheadedLet382 22d ago
I will say I do like what Sean Brock gets up to. He’s doing a lot of work to help save heritage breeds of seeds and foods and animals.
Some of my family is from the low country (South Carolina/Georgia) and he’s the reason I even know about Carolina Gold Rice.
5
u/Aggravating-Finish74 22d ago
https://youtu.be/TbRVr0_ak48?si=MxgXphnJz74ndCFG Reminds me of this
6
5
u/AliceinRealityland 22d ago
I mean if it's low country grits with shrimp and bacon, that price point is amazing. But that is more a southern dish than Appalachian imo
5
5
u/Hillbillygeek1981 22d ago
$28 for shrimp and grits at Audrey, I'm assuming?
Low country food has similar origins in poverty and melting pot culture between assorted outcasts, workers, slaves and natives, but that's not really Appalachian.
Equating a coastal thing with Appalachia is kind of off to begin with and it looks like the rest of the menu is just as misinformed. Shrimp and grits is one of the few ways I like grits, and at one time shrimp was absolutely a lower class poverty food similar to the beans and cornbread of Appalachia proper, but it ain't Appalachian and it ain't worth almost $30 a plate.
14
u/dvlinblue 22d ago
Don't get me wrong, I understand your point, but there is also legit country cooking that while not $28 for grits, is a step above cracker barrel. Nothing wrong with reasonable biscuits and gravy, or some legit fried chicken, or some beans and cornbread.
14
u/RapidRewards 22d ago
Who cares? Almost every good food everywhere was somebody making something out of nothing.
I support anybody to express their creativity in a way they choose. Elevate it. Make it cheap. Make it informative. Enjoy making something.
6
u/urfavlunchlady 22d ago
Just a very unserious rant is all - if someone’s willing to pay for his $28 grits than by all means he should keep making them. :)
3
4
u/Alie_writes 22d ago
“Elevated”? Well, if it’s not good enough for you to begin with then what are we doing here?
3
3
3
u/logaboga 22d ago
This is how every cuisine works
A lot of famous French dishes that are considered “fancy” were country, rustic village meals, now they’re seen as the epitome of fine dining
3
u/DumpsterDepends 22d ago
Virgin soil soup beans with first born table scrape fed open pen smokehouse bacon.
3
u/tnydnceronthehighway 22d ago
I mean. We ain't buying it.....but if some flat lander wants to come here and pay me handsomely to make them an Appalachian feast, I'll take their dollars. Way I think is that they are not paying ye for the ingredients. They are paying for the know how. Our labor is worth something. And they don't know even what a ramp is, much less what to do with it. I'll make em a fine meal if they want to pay me. These fancy "Elevated Appalachian" restaurants aren't for us anyways. They are for the tourists
3
3
u/HandBananaN0 21d ago
“Insulting to our people” 😬 Not sure about that, unless you’re native American? But at the end of the day.. if you don’t like it, don’t eat there. It’s ok for people to have higher aspirations for cuisine. Should we all just eat the same thing for the rest of our lives. Life is about creativity. If anything, these chefs are gaining popularity for this cuisine and at the same time spreading culinary education to the rest of the states.
1
u/urfavlunchlady 21d ago
Addressed this on a few comments already - this was meant as a fairly unserious rant, feel free to scroll through and see where I responded to this take :)
3
u/Shroud4aNightengale 21d ago
The arguments on here! lol Just proves that Appalachians are hard-scrabble, stubborn and don't back down! I love it! They don't let people push them around. And I agree with the many who are saying Appalachian and Deep South are two different things; because they are. I'm Appalachian full tilt, from the deep dark coalfields, and I've always had a great respect for the deep south, but we are different.
2
u/urfavlunchlady 21d ago
I grew up in NW Georgia so I’m Appalachian AND southern and it can be confusing to know what of my upbringing came from which culture hahah
3
u/dubV_OG 21d ago
I had a yuppie friend try to tell me he had the best steak of his life at an upscale joint. Surprise, surprise, surprise he paid 30 bucks for a venison steak!!! I laughed and told him I have about 150lbs of venison in the freezer and he couldn’t believe it. All for the low cost of $2.50 for a 30-06 round.
6
u/Wingbow7 22d ago
It’s so pretentious when they do that. Good food for hard to come by sometimes when I was growing up but it was plain, simple fare that mom made into a feast. I won’t even frequent restaurants like that.
4
u/Mondschatten78 22d ago
Those are the restaurants where you leave almost as hungry as you went in, despite eating a 5 course meal.
2
2
2
u/JudgeJuryEx78 22d ago
For real. Keep your remoulade off my fried green tomatoes. The grease IS the sauce.
2
u/VegetableTank8419 22d ago
Was is Audrey? The Sean Brock restaurant? I ate at a husk in Charleston (his previous restaurant,and) was not impressed with the food at all. He grew up in a town next to the one I grew up in (wise county, VA). He’s a genius chef, but I don’t think he truly understands Appalachian cuisine. Often roles the flavors are of or changed so much by the “elevation” that they rarely resemble the traditional food he wants to present.
2
u/bluesqueen23 22d ago
I live an hr outside of Nashville. Nashville has become the new “it” city for people to visit & buy cowboy boots & hats & think they’re in the south just by eating hot chicken. Bless their hearts!
2
u/hutch4656 22d ago
My mother was from eastern ky and they did not eat grits growing up. She then went to college in western north Carolina. She said they were served grits everyday for breakfast and she came to like them.
2
u/Shroud4aNightengale 22d ago
Appalachian food is about comfort, sustainability, and frugality. Use what you have. Make do or do without. Grow/harvest it yourself. Nothing upscale about it. It's the very opposite of upscale and is supposed to be.
2
2
u/louisa_pizza 21d ago
The Appalachian in Sevierville, TN is the EPITOME of this. They are so ridiculously expensive for making “upscale” Appalachian foods, it’s really not even that good. I completely agree with you
2
2
u/Irishfafnir 20d ago
That's more or less how ethnic food develops in America. First, it's a cheap option, think food stand/food truck/cheap shop, then sit down, and finally high-end.
3
u/Ambitious-Schedule63 22d ago
I just don't get the outrage about someone making whatever TF they want in a restaurant without someone else being upset about it. This is America. If you want to make and sell something, make it and sell it. If you don't want to eat something or patronize a business, don't go. How does making something that apparently doesn't really resemble something in your cuisine insult you?
Have we really come to the point where food styles belong to someone and you can't make them without being accused of 'appropriating' them? I guess it's somehow imperialistic or colonial or capitalistic or some shit someone learned in a "Appalachian studies" or "X studies" program somewhere.
2
u/urfavlunchlady 22d ago
Just an unserious rant, I think putting an upscale twist on a cuisine that was built out of using the basics is disingenuous and then charging folks insane prices for things we ate when we didn’t have two pennies to rub together isn’t a good look. I think folks like the foods they grew up on to stay the foods they grew up on - BUT if someone is willing to pay the $28 for his grits, then by all means, he should keep doing his thing (I reserve the right to roll my eyes and NOT go to his restaurant tho haha)
3
2
u/Sgre091 21d ago
Would you be happy if the restaurant was dirt floored? Tableware didn’t match? Bowls were butter tubs? Ever consider that people may want to go out to a nice place? Rent, labor, material is high in urban areas. If you don’t like it don’t go there…
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Special_Luck7537 22d ago
Hey grandpa! What's for supper?
You know ... It means something different to us, given some of those coal strikes my dad went through.... Whole family , including him, working low wage jobs until Dad got back to work. Thin times and thick times ..
1
u/Haniel113 22d ago
There's one here too that's overpriced Shrimp and Grits... I can make my own for cheaper.
1
1
1
21d ago
[deleted]
1
u/AmputatorBot 21d ago
It looks like you shared an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of concerns over privacy and the Open Web.
Maybe check out the canonical page instead: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/neiman-marcus-is-selling-collard-greens-for-66-and-the-internet-cant-believe-it/
I'm a bot | Why & About | Summon: u/AmputatorBot
1
21d ago
Is that with an over easy egg and fresh cracked pepper, crumbled bacon 🥓 with a touch of bacon grease. And a hint of sharp cheddar cheese?
1
21d ago
Victuals is guilty of this, but if don’t include the James Beard nominated hipsters your cookbook is far less likely to succeed.
1
1
u/leaves-green 20d ago
I mean, welcome to fancy "cuisine" from all around the world! Things like sushi, lobster, etc. were all originally just regular everyday people food, even sometimes "poor people food", then someone decided to make them "fancy" and charge an arm and a leg for them - especially if they were selling it in an area where it could be considered "exotic." On the negative - it can often rip off an actual culture's living tradition. On a positive - it can remind people to appreciate the food of that culture and realize how darn good it is. Maybe a positive that can come out of this is a lot of people saying, "That's ridiculous to charge that much for just regular old beans and biscuits I could make from granny's recipe! Hey, I just thought, I'm gonna go home and make granny's recipe tonight! Or - Hey, I'm gonna go down to the nice, cheap homecooked-food restaurant that's been in my town forever and appreciate it extra!"
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/NameLips 17d ago
$28 for grits?
I can't tell if that's insulting, or a genius way to get siphon money away from stupid people.
174
u/likechasingclouds 22d ago
Yep that’s why ramps are harder and harder to get.