In January, I learned about the Southern Foodways alliance:
The Southern Foodways Alliance documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South. We set a common table where black and white, rich and poor -- all who gather-- may consider our history and our future in a spirit of reconciliation.
The specific reason all this came up was an interview I did with Amy Evans, an oral historian:
http://potablecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/06/blue-grass-brown-whiskey-southern.html
The SFA is coming to Louisville for its annual field trip, and even though beer isn't a part of the program, it looks awfully interesting.
Lousiville: Blue Grass & Brown Whiskey ... Eighth Annual Southern Foodways Alliance Field Trip
Join the Southern Foodways Alliance as we travel to Louisville, Kentucky, home of the “most exciting two minutes in sports,” and the arguable birthplace of the old fashioned.
We’ll play dainty, an only-in-Louisville game, in the streets of the city’s Schnitzelburg neighborhood. We’ll gather in the Rathskeller, beneath a tooled leather ceiling, to toast the work of Minnie Fox and the African American cooks she honored in the Blue Grass Cookbook.
We’ll taste Benedictine spread and Henry Bain sauce. We’ll sip brown whiskey from the state’s best distillers and red wine from grapes raised by a onetime tobacco farmer. We will dine on fried catfish at the All Wool and a Yard Wide Democratic Club. And farm-fresh fare at Lilly’s. We’ll sample bourbon-marinated smoked fish. And bourbonbarrel-aged sorghum.
The region’s best scholars will show us the way, providing context and amplification. Smart talking and great eating (and drinking), that’s what we promise.
Info here: http://potablecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/06/blue-grass-brown-whiskey-southern.html