Local Eating

I am sitting here watching Anthony Bourdain walking around the city of New Orleans, my adopted third home (after Christian County-Montgomery County and Dunwoody), enjoying the culture and food of New France. He was talking with a writer/author who was lauding the ability of the Cajun/creole folks to hold on to their food culture. Lately, I have been enjoying Restauants in Atlanta and even at Callaway Gardens where they specialize in local foods and dishes maybe tweaked a bit. Georgia white shrimp is my favorite. But I was thinking about the movie, "The Help" and for some reason thought of a story my grandmother told about a place out in the county in Montgomery County, where African-Americans went to eat good food, drink, listen to music, fight, dance and have a good time. Apparently, there was a door on the side, where white folks went to get takeout. The irony is contained in the idea of a place where the whites couldn't go inside, but, instead, drove up and were served around the side. Just one spot where the usual segregated world was turned upside down. I also was thinking about smoked pork and country ham and peas and butter beans and watermelon pickles and my grandmother's biscuits, which I swear I will replicate some day. Real local Western Kentucky/Middle Tennessee food. I got to get me some!