It’s hard to find good greasy beans, says Travis Milton, who knows the problem firsthand. The chef plans to sow 10 acres of foods that populate the cookbook of central Appalachia — greasy beans and other heirloom beans, cowpeas, creasy greens, Candy Roaster squash, goosefoot and blackberries, to name a few — for his soon-to-open restaurant in Bristol, Tennessee, reports the Washington Post.
The restaurant will serve “elevated” versions of dishes that Milton grew up with, such as mulefoot pork, candied beets and root vegetables. Chef William Dissen calls central Appalachia “the backbone of Southern cooking.”
“It’s a scrappy, intelligent way of cooking that, out of necessity, embraced preserving, canning, fermenting and using every part of the animal long before all that was trendy,” writes Jane Black, a FERN contributor. “Appalachian cuisine is derived as much from the culture of the mountains as from its ingredients. Perhaps here more than in any region in the United States, families carefully saved seeds, preserving heirloom varieties that vanished quickly in areas where commercial seeds were widely available.” Garden produce was supplemented with gleanings, such as ramps, mushrooms, wild ginger and spicebush, a wild variety of allspice.