Just like Soil

FARMING AND FOOD HAVE LONG BOLSTERED THE SOUTH and defined its local foodways, whether in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Tennessee. What was grown made its way to tables and defined regional dishes and flavors. Enslaved Africans and their labor are indubitably tied to the legacy of what Southern food has become, despite years filled with hardships and oppression of all kinds.

In early March, a new challenge emerged as the global health pandemic burst in throughout the South. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged on and disrupted supply chains in communities across the South, residents turned to local sources. Bare grocery store shelves were enough to spur people’s anxiety, and looking towards local farms