A delicious feast, as well as a thoughtful celebration of regional culture.
Egerton assembles more than four dozen previously published pieces by writers such as Nikki Giovanni and Roy Blount Jr., offering the same serendipitous delights as time spent on a front porch of a summer evening enjoying good food and good talk.
This is the first volume in what is to be an annual series, and, divided into sections of People, Times, Things, Places, and Southern Foodways, it’s a beguiling mix of food lore, encounters with memorable characters, and, of course, the place itself, from swampy bayous to the rolling hills of Appalachia. The selections stem from Town and Country, Food & Wine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and elsewhere, but they all reflect an abiding affection for things southern, especially the food—from boiled peanuts to Scuppernogs (a native muscadine grape) and, of course, barbecue. It is a subject that evokes passionate debate about, say, the virtues of a mustard-based versus a tomato-based sauce, or even bitter family feuds. In “A Confederacy of Sauces,” Jack Hitt relates how in South Carolina, a politically liberal brother has taken advantage of a boycott of his reactionary brother’s mustard-based barbecue sauce to put his own version in stores. The writers introduce characters like nonagenarian Moonshiner Coe Dupuis; Leah Chase, the cook at the famous New Orleans restaurant, Dooky Chase; and Dori Sanders, a peach farmer and writer. They visit farms where watermelons are grown, they stalk wild hogs, and they eat dinner in a Texas prison, where the incarcerated chef has a reputation as a great cook. There are tributes to southern food writers like Craig Claiborne and Eugene Walter, as well as memories of canning, family reunions, and Thanksgivings at which, alongside the turkey, there’s macaroni and cheese—“a vegetable in the South.” Others debate the merits of iced tea, which in this region is always sweetened; and explore the origin of vegetables like okra and sweet potatoes, as well as the influence of African-American traditions on white cooking, particularly in the way greens are cooked.
A delicious feast, as well as a thoughtful celebration of regional culture.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2002
ISBN: 0-8078-5419-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Univ. of North Carolina
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
Memories as elemental as stones, for sure—of food, love, places, children, childhood, longing.
A floodtide of microstories that aim to catch—as turning points, emotive instances or sheer imagery—moments in Grigsby's life.
In over 80 short pieces of prose and poetry—most just a page or two long, written over a 30-year span—Grigsby takes measure of the "stones" (people, places, events) she has bumped into on life's waterway. These are personal conjurings, and what makes them glow is their provocation of the reader's fast-held memories—the author's voice reflects universal qualities, and acts as a flint ready to spark a personal fire. She might display the fun loopiness of A.A. Milne's "Disobedience": "Off we went, big sis, baby brother / on or way to the corner store. / Lots of trouble we got in then– / he was only two, and I, only four." She will also reveal the pain of a friend moving away, the disappointment of a trusty canoe getting splintered, or the ground floor fear of dying alone. Hope is a vulnerability, if indispensable: "Hold fast…/ it is now everything." A worldly pluck will give purpose: "To find a jot of humor / in the morass of absurdity / is the essence of / one woman’s existence." There are also some lazy observations: "But the eagle soars– / for he is free," which is not only hackneyed but also no truer than for any other living thing. She rebounds, however, with a sweet tribute to her son: "...Learning was freedom / and beauty in his hands." Here, the notion of freedom has some genuine reverb. Then there are the snippets, lines that can stand on their own, of the "creped wings" under the arms of an older woman; or the grade-school teacher's black dress with lacing "hinting a / shock of chartreuse underneath"; or the lovely line, "This year is old and / listing by now."
Memories as elemental as stones, for sure—of food, love, places, children, childhood, longing.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-9744064-0-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A worthy, fascinating, and overdue tip of the hat to toymakers who have made so many so happy.
Journalist and game inventor Walsh presents a lovely tribute to the unsung heroes who brought us the classic toys that have enchanted millions.
This large-format, colorful book on the genesis of particularly successful toys fuses the captivating weirdness of the Guinness Book of World Records with the fine explication of The Way Things Work. First, Walsh lays out a few parameters: the toys had to be over ten years old, they had to sell in the tens of millions and up, they had to be developed outside the mega-toy companies—this is a salute to the entrepreneur—and the inventor had to be known (thus no tops or jacks). Walsh's house of marvels starts with the dawn of the 20th century and the Flexible Flyer, continuing on to the Beanie Babies. This is human-interest territory, for the inventors were often misfits who worked in their garage or had a sudden inspiration that would be their one-and-only contribution to toyland. The enthusiastic text complements the handsome photography, and Walsh isn't afraid to traipse into the psychology of toys—the vulnerability of Raggedy Andy, the scent of a Crayola—or explore the radical politics that led to the Landlord's Game (a precursor of Monopoly): "a practical example of the immorality of rent gouging, land monopolies and other corporate monopolies." He offers the goods on the inventor of the Slinky, who ran away from his family to join a Bolivian religious cult; the bawdy roots of Barbie; and the first Super Ball, which surprised even the inventor, Norm Stingley: "as soon as I opened the mold this stuff immediately tried to get out and tore itself to pieces." When it comes to the enigmatic Rubik's Cube, Walsh gives no solutions away—but then maybe he couldn't, since it's the purlieu of abstract group theory and presents 43 quintillion wrong combinations. So don't feel bad.
A worthy, fascinating, and overdue tip of the hat to toymakers who have made so many so happy.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 1936
ISBN: 0-9646973-4-3
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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