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.

Taste of Texas Barbecue

Austin TX and Environs

Join the Southern Foodways Alliance for our second Field Trip, A Taste of Texas Barbecue, to be held June 14-15 in and around the city of Austin. Over the course of a day and half, we will explore the foodways of Central Texas, a region where cultural, ethnic, geographic, and agricultural forces converged to create a world-class barbecue culture.

Friday night kicks off with a Blues and Barbecue Welcome Reception (6:00-9:00) at the recently reopened Victory Grill, once a stop on the segregation-era Chitlin Circuit. Join masters of ceremonies Hoover Alexander and Robb Walsh for a bellyful of the best in Austin barbecue and an earful of traditional Texas Blues from Mel Davis and the Blues Specialists. Participating restaurants include Artz Rib House, Ben's Long-Branch, BBQ World Headquarters, County Line, Ruby's Bar-B-Q, R.O. Outpost, and Sam's Bar-B-Que. Libations courtesy of, among others, Tito's Handmade Vodka.

Saturday morning, we host a Breakfast and Debate (8:00-10:00) at the Driskill Hotel. Charles Wilson of the University of Mississippi and Neal Foley of the University of Texas square off over a cultural conundrum: where the South ends and the West begins. In an effort to keep them in line, John Egerton moderates. Feast on a breakfast of light-as-a-feather White Lily biscuits slathered with Brazos blackberry jam, and pit-cooked barbacoa nestled in handmade, La Paloma White Wings flour tortillas.

Saturday night, the weekend reaches its zenith with a Southern Hospitality Party (7:00-9:00) hosted by Mississippi-born restaurateur and raconteur Eddie Wilson. Join him in the beer garden of his restaurant, Threadgill's World Headquarters, for a taste of his famous chicken-fried steak and farm-fresh vegetables. Libations courtesy of Live Oak Brewing. Remember: Janis Joplin got her start at Threadgill's, so rest assured the music will be great.

Optional Events: Sunday Morning, choose a gospel brunch at Stubb's Bar-B-Q or Threadgill's World Headquarters. Try the fiesta brunch at Fonda San Miguel, or the plantation brunch at Green Pastures Restaurant. It's your call.

Legends of Texas Barbecue Field Trips

Choose One. We get you there. We pay for your grub. We get you home.

Taylor-Elgin Express

• Louie Mueller's Barbecue
  205 West Second, Taylor
  Louie Mueller began working the pits during the mid-1940s. He moved to his current downtown location in 1959. One fan called Mueller's the vintage Caddy of barbecue joints. Best bet: black pepper-rubbed brisket, served on a sheath of butcher paper.
• Taylor Cafe
  101 North Main, Taylor
  Vencil Mares's cafe still bears the last vestiges of the Jim Crow era when it was necessary to have two bars and two jukeboxes to accommodate a segregated clientele. Nowadays folks of all races flock here for the good barbecue. Best bet: bohunk sausage with beans.
• Southside Market & Bar-B-Cue
  1212 US 290 E, Elgin
  Founded by the Moon family in 1882, nurtured by the Stach and Bracewell families, this storied pit is a sideline to the legendary sausage making company. Best bet: crispy, smoke-charred brisket ends.
• Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse, 188 US 290 E, Elgin
  Meyer's all beef and pork garlic sausages have been a Texas grocery staple for more than 50 years. In 1998, the Meyer brothers expanded their operation to include a family-style restaurant. Best bet: garlic-studded pork sausage wrapped in a flour tortilla.
• Cross-Town Bar-B-Q, 202 S. Avenue C, Elgin
  Carol Grady and Larry Morgan smoke their meats over a slow oak fire. Eating in this cinderblock joint is an old-fashioned lick-your-fingers experience. Best bet: greasy-good homemade beef sausage.

Lockhart-Luling Loop

When Smitty Schmidt -- longtime proprietor of Kreuz market -- passed away a few years back, he left the business to his son and the building that housed it to his daughter. Sibling rivalry ensued.

• Kreuz Market
  619 North Colorado, Lockhart
  Propelled by the rift, Rick Schmidt moved his barbecue pit to this cavernous new building. Have no fear. The perfectly seasoned meats remain paragons of the smoking art. Best bet: dry-rubbed lean or fat beef brisket
• Smitty's Market
  208 Commerce, Lockhart
  This historic pit house -- home to the Kreuz's for nearly a century -- is now in the capable hands of Nina Schmidt Sells and her son John Fullilove. Best bet: you guessed it, beef brisket with nary a drop of sauce in sight.
• Black's Barbecue
  215 North Main, Lockhart
  Founded in 1932, this is the oldest barbecue restaurant in the state still run by the same family. The Blacks are famous for pioneering the use of brisket in Central Texas barbecue. Best bet: post-oak smoked ham and pork loins.
• Luling City Market
  633 East Davis near Hwy 183 S, Luling
  No knives. No forks. Order by the pound (or link) at the smokehouse counter. The sweet and hot orange-hued barbecue sauce, made from a secret family recipe, is available by the quart to go. Best bet: smoke-charred pork ribs, napped with that secret sauce.
• Gonzales Food Market
  311 St. Lawrence, Gonzales
  An up and comer on the barbecue circuit, the Lopez family's convenience store cum meat market is quickly winning converts. Best bet: dry-rubbed lamb ribs.

Biographies

Hoover Alexander, a veteran of more than 25 years in the restaurant business, was raised in East Austin. Since 1996 he has been the chef and owner of Hoover's Cooking, where he pays homage to his mother's cooking.

Mel Davis and the Blues Specialists, beloved stalwarts of the Austin music scene, play traditional Texas jump blues with a tinge of jazz.

John Egerton of Nashville, Tennessee, is an independent writer of nonfiction. He wrote the book Southern Food.

Neil Foley, an associate professor of history and American Studies at the University of Texas, is author of the book, The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture.

Charles Reagan Wilson, a professor of history and Southern Studies, is director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. He is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.

Robb Walsh of Houston, Texas, is the author of Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from Pit Bosses.

Eddie Wilson is proprietor of the phenomenon known as Threadgill's. Open since 1933, this temple of Southern home cooking has played host to some of the nation's best pickers and singers. Wilson is the author of Threadgill's: The Cookbook, which includes a comic book history of the restaurant.

SPONSORS

This program is brought to you by White Lily, the lighter baking flour, made from 100% pure soft wheat. Since 1883, White Lily has been an icon of Southern baking and tradition. White Lily is a member of the C.H. Guenther & Son family of companies, the oldest family-run miller in the nation.

Contributing Sponsors include the Driskill Hotel and Texas Folklife Resources.