Public invited to two Thursday events
OXFORD, Miss. – The anthropologist Loran Eisley said, “If there is magic on this
planet, it is contained in water.” With this in mind, the liquid South
is the focus at the 11th annual Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium at
the University of Mississippi.
Held on Oct. 23-26, the symposium
provides opportunities for cooks, chefs, writers and intellectually
curious eaters alike to come to a better understanding of Southern
cuisine and Southern culture. Past years have included a diversity of
topics such as food and race relations, and sugar and sweetness.
This
year the sold-out symposium begins with a focus on water, the resource
on which all life relies. Buttermilk and soft drinks, including sugar
cane Mexican Coke and original recipe Dr Pepper, will also be examined.
“If Southerners are defined by what they eat, they are also defined by what they drink,” said John T. Edge, SFA director. “We will examine a range of drinks from water to wines made of native grapes to moonshine.”
UM professors Katie McKee, Ted Ownby and Curtis Wilkie are on board to discuss, respectively, drink in Southern texts, Billy Beer and religious opposition to alcohol in Southern history.
Lectures, held in Johnson Commons Ballroom, are complemented by informal lunches and dinners served in and around Oxford. “This is an unexpected topic, and we’ve assembled a roster of people who are big and contrarian thinkers,” Edge said.
A full range of Thursday afternoon workshops are also scheduled, including tasting sessions featuring the art of absinthe, and wine, from Jefferson’s Virginia to modern day North Carolina.
Two Thursday events that are open to the public include a 4 p.m. film screening at the Lyric Theatre, 1006 Van Buren Ave. in Oxford. “Bubber’s Package: A Short Film” by Judy Long is about a merchant and beloved cultural figure in Athens, Ga. The public is also invited to a special edition of Thacker Mountain Radio at 6 p.m. in Nutt Auditorium on the Ole Miss campus. Appearing are poet Kevin Young and writer Ken Wells, with music by One Ring Zero and Andy Friedman.
Listen to songs by One Ring Zero
Led by Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp, One Ring Zero is the Brooklyn band described by The New Yorker as the creators of “soundscapes that are both haunting and entertaining.” Last in Oxford in early spring 2007, the band will also perform at Proud Larry’s, 211 South Lamar Blvd., later Thursday evening.
“Oxford is one of our favorite places to play, and we jumped on this chance immediately,” Hearst said. “We thought it would be fun to tie in with the symposium and do a song based on graffiti from Taylor Grocery.”
In past albums, they have focused on literary themes and have featured collaborations with authors such as Jonathan Lethem. Their latest effort sets its sights on food and features the likes of Mario Batali. “Every song is a different recipe from a different chef, sung word for word. It is pretty ridiculous and fun,” said founding member Hearst, composer, multi-instrumentalist and writer.
Young, one of America’s best young poets, will not only read his poetry on Thacker Mountain but also give the invocation on Friday morning. His distinguished career includes winning a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and a NEA Literature Fellowship.
“His books are big and ambitious, capacious, wide-reaching in their influences,” said Beth Ann Fennelly, UM associate professor of English. “He’s written on the blues, the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, African-American history, and – most germane to this conference – food. His poems on pork, boudin sausage and other Southern foods are both moving and hilarious.”
On Friday, W. Hodding Carter, grandson of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mississippi newspaper editor, offers his thoughts on water at an 11 a.m. symposium session titled “Water, Water Everywhere: One Man’s Quest to Understand the World’s Most Misunderstood Resource.” Carter recently published his memoir, “Off the Deep End,” about trying to qualify as an Olympic swimmer.
On Saturday, John Simpkins, who teaches law at the College of Charleston and has written for the New York Times Magazine, will discuss the African-American tradition of using Manischewitz in religious ceremonies and celebrations.
This year, a new SFA-produced film will be screened, underwritten by the Fertel Foundation and directed by Joe York, director/producer at UM’s Center for Documentary Projects. The subject is Cheri Cruze, a Tennessee dairywoman who, along with her husband Earl, churns old-style buttermilk.
On “Outlaw Sunday,” novelist and short story writer Barry Hannah, UM writer in residence, is to speak. Attendees will hear the life story of stock car legend Junior Johnson, who learned his driving techniques while transporting moonshine around North Carolina and evading law officials. He catapulted to NASCAR fame, winning 139 races, while developing the “bootleg turn.” Johnson was the basis of the 1965 Tom Wolfe essay “The Last American Hero.”
Primary sponsors of the Southern Foodways Symposium are Anson Mills, Biltmore Estate Wine Co., The Catfish Institute, Fertel Foundation, Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Que, McIlhenny Co. (maker of Tabasco brand products), National Peanut Board, R&B Feder Charitable Foundation for the Beaux Arts, Viking Range and White Lily.
For more information, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south or http://www.southernfoodways.com/. For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-5993.