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As far as the word "foodways" goes, did your organization coin that term? In academic circles, it's been applied for a while. I think it's fair to say that through our outreach work, and programming, we've furthered the use of the term. But it's not something we coined. The food of the South is more popular than ever. How have you seen Southern food disseminate through the country? What have you seen recent- ly that you didn't used to? One, I see a new normal wherein Southern food and Southern people are accorded the respect they deserve for farming, cooking, and dining. The other thing I see happening is a defining of the South and Southern ingredients in a different way. When I pick up a bag of pork rinds now, I'm more likely to see that bag branded with the name "chicharrones" instead. I'm as likely to see the corner shop selling banh mi as I am to see the corner shop selling po' boys. It's a broadening definition of the South and a broadening definition of what Southern food is, both on the shelves and in restaurants. Besides what most people see as typical Southern fare, your organization has also looked closely at the impact of African-American culture and immigrant cultures on Southern food. Can you say a little about that? Culture is a dynamic process. Culture isn't fixed in time—it evolves over time. If you accept our argument that food is a cultural product, then the most interesting facet of Southern food is its evolution. I see it in Mexican restaurateurs, I see it in Vietnamese cookery, in cities from Houston to Atlanta. I see it in so many different ways that I think the thing I find most tiresome—the thing I find most simplistic, the thing I find less than smart, is an attempt to define the South as some kind of bulwark of sweet tea and fried chicken. The South is more interesting and more complex than that. If you choose to honestly see the South, if you choose to honestly think about it, then you end up with a far more complicated, sophisticated story. What do you think of the term "ethnic" food? Isn't it all just food? Is it a useful phrase? I don't find that word useful. We can't define the "other" in opposi- tion to the "normal"—I don't think that frame is worthwhile by any stretch of the imagination. But I do think there's an interesting conversation to be had about power dynamics in Southern food and a recognition that white Southerners like myself would be well served to think about cultural appropriation—appropriation of the foods of West Africa as their own white cultural products. That's what the conversation is about at a core level. At a surface level, the conversa- tion is fractious and not really directed. What is the focus of this year's fall symposium? Our focus this year is on corn. Corn as a symbol of the South, the idea of the skillet full of cornbread—it's actually part of the iconog- raphy of our logo. We'll look at corn as a symbol, we'll look at it as subsistence, we'll look at it as a problem, from the era of pellagra to the era of corn syrup. It has defined the South. Who is the typical person who comes to your symposium? There are three audiences. One is the lay person—or the every- woman or everyman eater—who is looking to understand American food culture, not necessarily Southern food culture, and sees this symposium as a pathway to that. These are good home cooks, these are historians, these are smart, engaged people interested in cultural conversation. They're the glue that holds the symposium together. The symposium would be far less interesting, I think, if it were a purely professional organization. It would be too damn cliquish and boring—that third of the audience is really important to us. The second group is writers, whether magazine, newspaper, book, or academic writers. Those people attend to grapple with the ideas we present. The third audience is chefs, restaurateurs, and winemakers, people who are in the business of food and drink. That audience—I hope I'm not overstating this—trust us to tell honest stories about food culture, and they do our four-day think tank as a means to develop new ideas and think about the enterprise of what they do. What do you see as the future of the Southern Foodways Alliance? A number of things. In addition to being a documentary organiza- tion, we also publish a magazine now that I'm very proud of. That magazine, called Gravy, publishes quarterly, along with a podcast, also called Gravy, that publishes biweekly—that combination won the James Beard Award for publication of the year in 2015. We produce about 10 films a year; we hold a summer symposium along with the one in the fall; and in Birmingham produce a conference called Food Media South. It's part of our recognition that the goal is not only to document Southern food culture and not only to explore it, but to publish and forge great media efforts in the hopes of pro- ducing something helpful. That's part of what our future looks like. Brandon Fox is the food and drink editor of Style Weekly in Richmond, Virginia. Her work has also appeared in The Local Palate and The Washington Post. "The thing I fnd most tiresome is an attempt to defne the South as some kind of bulwark of sweet tea and fried chicken." q&a; 140 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com