Authentic South

I can get down with any podcast that starts with the sound of a grandma frying okra. Tanner Latham, a travel writer and mulitmedia storyteller in Atlanta, has recently launched Authentic South, a podcast celebrating Southern culture. 

In the first podcast you hear from the likes of Tanner's Mawmaw, the Director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss, the former editor-in-chief of Southern Living magazine and a pair of chefs whose Southern-Korean fusion dishes are served at their Atlanta BBQ joint. 

Listening to these characters and their ramblings on the South makes me want to grab a tape recorder and head straight to my grandparents house in Statesboro, Georgia. This Christmas my grandfather told me about his first job pickin' cotton, his first speeding ticket in a town called Ellabell, and the 450 Vidalia onions plants he just put in the ground. I would pay money to have a recording of these stories. What Southernisms would you preserve if you could travel the South with a tape recorder?

Authentic South

The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen

The Lee Bros. released their new cookbook, Charleston Kitchen last month. Matt and Ted Lee are certainly a fancier version of Lowcountry than I am. In our house we've joked about them because they served champagne at an oyster roast on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Today I flipped through the book and was blown away. I loved it so much I got it for a friend's bridal shower. Below are a few pics I snapped before I wrapped it. This book is full of gorgeous images that remind me of home. There's a section in the book paying homage to the Charleston Receipts cookbook. Charleston Receipts, published in 1950, was the first and most successful community cookbook in the country and no Charleston kitchen is complete without one.

Mrs. Vereen Cohen

A mess of Blue Crabs

Pan-roasted Corn, Okra and Tomatoes

Crab Boil

Smothered Porkchops

Sheepshead