Welcome to the SFA

Welcome to the Southern Foodways Alliance -- an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture with headquarters at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi.

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.

2005 Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award

Martin Sawyer

Martin Sawyer of New Orleans won the 2005 Ruth Fertel Keeper
of the Flame Award. Sawyer was born in 1920. He witnessed
the great flood of 1927. He survived Katrina. He has worked
in and around the French Quarter of New Orleans for more
than sixty years. His chosen profession is bartender. Among
his signature drinks are a rye-brandy Sazerac, a wicked mint
julep, and his namesake cocktail, the Marsaw.

In addition to giving Mr. Sawyer a cash award, the SFA
commissioned a film, “Marsaw,” by Joe York.

Join the SFA

Help the Southern Foodways Alliance celebrate, preserve, promote, and nurture the traditional and developing food culture of the American South.

Join us.

The Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award

Each fall, the SFA (with support from the Fertel Foundation) honors an unsung hero or heroine, a foodways tradition bearer of note, with the Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award.

more ...