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Posts from the ‘Food’ Category

Mar 14

Pi(e) Day Revisited at North Carolina’s Arthur Morgan School

By Ronni Lundy, Photos by Lora Smith

Last March 14, the day each year known as Pi Day for its 3.14 month and day sequence, marked the first Pi(e) in the Sky fundraiser and social event to benefit the Get Real Summer Camp held at the Arthur Morgan School in the Blue Ridge mountain community of Celo, N.C. Here Ronni Lundy offers a delectable recipe for your own pie party (Apple-Chai-Bacon Pie!) and the story of the event and its roots. Lora Smith, Meghan Lundy-Jones, director of the camp, and Ronni Lundy organized the event. Read more

Jun 25

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Finding Sweetness in Lost History

Tonia Moxley, avid writer, cook and gardener, shares the story of how she’s made room for bees in her backyard, like so many others experimenting in the urban agriculture movement, and why that journey has brought her closer to understanding her Appalachian heritage.     Read more

Jan 23

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Micropolitan Manifesto: A Journey from the Big Apple to Back Home

In 2008, Katie McCaskey made the decision to move from NYC, back home to Staunton, Va., where she could afford to own a house and open a business. Even though Staunton is small, she still enjoys downtown amenities, the town’s historic character and walkability, the same things she loved about urban living.  Becoming an entrepreneur hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but the experience has made her a passionate advocate for small towns, ‘micropolitans’ as she calls them, and their potential. She’s written an inspiring manifesto encouraging others to invest in them as she has. She recently shared her discoveries with The HillVille.  

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Jan 16

Latinos Speak from Affrilachia: A Selection from PLUCK! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture

For five months, at the request of and via the introduction of Frank X Walker, editor of PLUCK! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture, four writers shared stories of food, land, home, race, sexuality and writing. In doing so, they illuminated the experience of being Latino in the United States and in Appalachia specifically. Read more

Dec 22

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Stock Your Pantry

By Beth Newberry

Whether you’re driving or flying home to the mountains for the holidays—pack an extra bag. You don’t want to have to relegate those jars of your mamaw’s homemade preserves or that box of MoonPies to the corner of a suitcase with socks and dirty clothes. Nope, that’s no way to treat regional delicacies you can’t find in the flatlands. Here’s a short list of staples some of our readers will hoard on trips home this year. Read more

Dec 19

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Holiday Cooking the Lard Way

By Tonia Moxley

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – Surely two 40-plus women enjoying a glass of red wine and some Trader Joe’s cocoa truffles late on a Saturday should not giggle so loudly. But the tinkling sound of two dozen canning jars full of hot, honey-yellow lard sealing themselves sent us into paroxysms.
“Oh, there went another one. And another one! He He!”

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Dec 18

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Home for the Holidays: Great Places to Stay Along the Way

By Niki King

The holidays can be stressful, especially if you’re having to travel far to get back home. Fortunately, there are some prime places tucked away in the mountains where the wearied traveler might find some serious respite. If you can squeeze an extra day or two into your holiday schedule, treat yourself. Stop off at one of these fine establishments for rest, good eats, drinks and merriment. You’ll feel refreshed when you show up at your families and you can go back to work after the holidays feeling like you actually had a little vacation.

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Oct 27

Coming Soon!

Niki King and Beth Newberry are excited to soon launch The HillVille, a weekly online magazine for urban Appalachians.

And just who are urban Appalachians, anyway? Good question. We’re a diverse bunch. We are exapps, folks who grew up in the region, but moved away for school, work or whatever. Some of us are second- or third-generation exapps, born to Appalachians, but raised in cities outside the region. Others live in one of the many cities and towns actually in the mountains, like Knoxville, Tenn., and Charleston, W.Va. or cities on the edges—to the north (holla Pittsburgh), to the South (bring it Birmingham) and the mid-west (isn’t that right, Cincinnati?). Read more