ASHEVILLE – For nearly 25 years, Southern and Appalachian ingredients and recipes have been the foundation of farm-to-table restaurant Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar.
This summer, Chef Eric Gabrynowicz will take guests to the place where the culinary tradition originated, hosting Tupelo Honey’s new micro-documentary, “A Journey Through the Appalachians,” now streaming on the restaurant’s website and YouTube channel.
Gabrynowicz, an Asheville resident, said Tupelo Honey is an introduction to Southern and Appalachian cuisine for many guests.
Tupelo Honey, which opened in downtown Asheville in 2000, is preparing to open its 23rd location, covering markets across the U.S., from the Carolinas to the Midwest to Boise, Idaho.
“We know that when we enter a new market, they’re curious,” he said. “We know they want what we do, so we teach them a little bit more about us.”
He said that in addition to in-house training, restaurant staff could use “A Journey Through Appalachia” as an educational resource to better communicate with dining room guests, farmers and retailers outside the southern region.
Preserving Southern and Appalachian food traditions
Four regional experts led Gabrynowicz on a week-long tour to learn about the mountain region’s unique ingredients, long-practiced preservation and preparation techniques, and other culinary traditions of the Southern Appalachians.
Gabrynowicz said Dr. Erica Abrams Locklear, a professor at UNC Asheville and author of “Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People,” provided guidance and extensive knowledge of Appalachian food traditions.
Mary Thomason, a second-generation basket weaver and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, imparted experiences in animal and plant care and cooking techniques that have been passed down through generations and have shaped these institutions.
Bill Best, an 88-year-old seed saver and founder of the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, Inc., has been preserving beans for nearly 70 years.
Gabrynowicz said Best, nicknamed the “Johnny Appleseed of Appalachia,” has been instrumental in saving Appalachia’s culinary heritage and is responsible for preserving more than 1,500 varieties of traditional bean varieties.
Over 50 years ago, Allan Benton, owner of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams based in Madisonville, Tennessee, began curing hams using a recipe he developed in the old smokehouse behind his parents’ house.
Benton enjoys an excellent reputation among top chefs such as David Chang, Sean Brock and Tom Colicchio.
Gabrynowicz, who has been using Benton’s bacon since 2000 when he worked in three-star restaurants in New York, said one reason for the high-quality meat is the care with which the products are made and the simple method of preserving the traditional products.
“The main thing I learned is that people create the food and the culture, and that was humbling,” Gabrynowicz said. “From Mary Thomason, I learned about pre-contact diets and how they shaped Appalachian cuisine. Native people, and the Cherokee tribe in particular, were instrumental in Allan Benton eventually smoking his ham and Bill Best eventually preserving his beans.”
New menu features from Tupelo Honey
In addition to its farm-to-table menu, which includes black pepper fried chicken and collard greens, Tupelo Honey has added two limited-edition items to its menu in honor of Appalachia: the Sorghum Pork Bowl and the Apple-Achian Shine-Tini cocktail.
The Sorghum Pork Bowl starts with pork confit wrapped in Benton’s Country Ham Prosciutto. It’s served over stone-ground goat cheese grits with spinach, a bean blend and chopped bacon and finished with a glaze of black sorghum pepper, popped sorghum and chives.
“One of the most important things about Appalachian cuisine, besides the people, is the cooking method, the preservation,” he said. “You see that in many ways in this dish.”
The Apple-Achian Shine-Tini is made with Old Smoky Apple Pie Moonshine with ginger and three-spice syrup mixed with apple, pineapple and lemon juice. It is served with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.
Through November 30, proceeds from the Sorghum Pork Bowl will benefit the guest donor organizations – UNC Asheville Foundation, Southern Foodways Alliance and Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center.
Gabrynowicz said “A Journey Through the Appalachians” is a slice of the Appalachian Mountains and he hopes to take viewers on further journeys.
“We are evolving into a restaurant chain and I understand how that is sometimes viewed, but the way we run and approach our restaurant from a cultural and caring perspective has never changed,” Gabrynowicz said. “We care about our community and we love when our community interacts with us like they did in this video.”
“A journey through the Appalachians”
Stream it at tupelohoneycafe.com/journey-through-appalachia/ or on YouTube.
Info: For more information, visit tupelohoneycafe.com and follow on Instagram at @tupelohoneycafe.
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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a Citizen Times subscription.
