Tag: 2013

eat.drink.MISSISSIPPI
April / May 2013

Mississippi native Angie Sarris has amassed quite an impressive cookbook collection since she began cooking as a young girl. In fact, she estimates she has over 2,000. Her massive collection means she
isn’t likely to run out of ideas for her blog, “Angie’s Southern Kitchen.”

Angie comes from a long line of cooks. While growing up in Laurel, her grandparents loved to entertain
and she has fond memories of large crowds showing up for Sunday lunch after church, fish frys, or casual meals with family friends. Angie and her husband moved to Atlanta, Ga., shortly after getting married and once on her own, she started working on her own style of cooking.

The biggest challenge she faced as a newly married cook was combining her Southern roots with her husband’s Greek lineage. She began learning how to prepare some of the most popular Greek dishes, but soon learned that Greeks are very different from Southerners.

“Greeks are like Italians – they think their grandmother’s food is the best,” Angie explains. “Well, I did not have a Greek grandmother to be loyal too. I would try all the different family member’s dishes and I was free to like the one that TASTED the best.”

Angie began picking her favorite aspects from certain recipes and combining them to make her own unique Greek dishes. While she was met with resistance at first, she now gets rave reviews from her husband’s family.

“You know they liked it when they ask for the recipe,” she adds. “Success!”

In July 2011, Angie launched her blog as a way to organize her recipes and share them with family and
friends.

“I am always changing a recipe trying to get it just right. I needed a way to keep up with my recipes and journal what I wanted to keep. But when I would go back to it I could not remember which one we liked, did not like, or where I put it,” she says. “I was always having someone request a recipe from me all the time. It would be hard for me to go back and put my hands on it with all the recipes I have. Then I decided, hey I am going to do a blog and just journal what I cook, what I really like and want to repeat. Then my friends can follow along and visit when they want and it is there for them as well.”

Angie continues to see success with her blog and loves to receive phone calls, emails and packages from
her readers. In addition to cooking, she also enjoys traveling. However, she will admit that there is no place like the South.

“I have to say Southern is still the best the world has to offer. I am happy to say Southern food has a
new appreciation in the food world. I am proud to be from the South. I know how to shoot it, clean it,
cook it and put on a soiree you won’t soon forget. That is being a real Southerner to me.”

As for her library of cookbooks? Well, she’s still adding to her collection.

“How can you have too much of something you love?”

Angie’s Southern Kitchen
http://www.angiessouthernkitchen.com

eat.drink.MISSISSIPPI
February / March 2013
Article and photos

Over the last few years, food trucks have seen an almost cult-like resurgence in popularity.  They have evolved from the old-fashioned pre-made hamburgers and sandwiches to gourmet fare often prepared right on sight in a mobile kitchen.  In major metropolitan areas all over the country, a seemingly normal street corner becomes a lunch hot spot as nearby patrons line up to grab a quick meal curbside.  A few hours later, the truck has rolled on and it’s business as usual.

Food trucks require less capital and overhead costs than traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants.  Therefore, they are a less costly way to break into the food industry and can provide a boost to local economies.  However, the question of whether or not to allow food trucks to operate within a metro area is one that is frequently debated.   That’s because without regulation, food trucks can pose an unfair advantage over restaurants.   In 2011, the City of Jackson passed its first food truck ordinance allowing vendors to sell food curbside.  The new ordinance does carry some restrictions to prevent unfair practices and holds food trucks accountable to the same food safety requirements that restaurants do.  A $500 annual permit allows vendors to set up shop at one predetermined location within the Jackson city limits.  The vendors must either have a kitchen subject to approval by the state Department of Health either inside the truck or at an offsite location.  Operators also cannot serve food within 150 feet of a brick-and-mortar food establishment.

Since the ordinance was established, a few mobile food vendors have begun to spring up in the area.  Earlier in 2012, Fred’s Franks began selling hot dogs and chips three days a week from a push cart in Smith Park in downtown Jackson.  Followers of the local farmer’s market and festival circuit have likely been introduced to Garden to Fire’s innovative mobile wood-burning brick oven used bake fresh, handmade gourmet pizzas.

This past November, Jackson saw the arrival of its first traditional food truck.  Lauren Davis, owner of Lurny D’s Grille, and his crew set up shop on the corner of West and Amite Streets in front of Smith Park in downtown Jackson.  A self-taught cook and grillmaster, Davis started to seriously consider starting his own food truck shortly after the ordinance passed.  Typically, every weekday from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Lurney D’s serves up freshly grilled gourmet hamburgers and hand cut French fries right from the sliding glass windows of their psychedelic, brightly colored blue and orange truck.  Occasionally, LurnyD’s will cater a private event, but fans can keep up with their whereabouts through social media.

Customer’s waiting in line

Lurny D’s owner Lauren Davis

Lurny D’s Grille logo

Lurny D’s menu

Lurny D’s Cheeseburger and handcut fries

The presence of food trucks brings more to a metropolitan area than delicious food.  Since they can set up shop virtually anywhere, they have the ability to bring more food choices to residents and workers in areas where traditional restaurants do not yet have a presence.   Food trucks allow those that live and work within an area to feel more engaged with each other and their city.  They can also bring life to places that are otherwise low-traffic.  Such is the case during one unseasonably warm day at Smith Park.  Rather than taking lunch back to the office, many patrons can be found sitting on benches throughout the park eating their lunches, enjoying the fresh air, and engaging in conversations with each other.

There are a few challenges to working in a mobile kitchen.  The obvious being cramped working conditions.  Combine that with a hot grill and a fryer and it can feel like working in a sauna despite the temperature outside.  Davis and his crew have also had to deal with a few minor unexpected issues that  a typical restaurants owner isn’t likely  to run into, like flat tires and food orders getting blown around on a windy day.

Overall, however, Davis days the response to his food truck has been very positive.  “We’ve had a lot of repeat customers,” he says.  “We are also getting a bunch of new followers on our social media sites.”  He hopes his success will pave the way for more local entrepreneurs who are considering taking the plunge into the food truck industry.

@cookingbride Just read the article in Eat.Drink.Mississippi.Great article!Thank you so much!

— LurnyD’s Grille (@LurnyDsGrille) February 1, 2013

eat.drink.MISSISSIPPI
February / March 2013

Susan Voisin is no stranger to the food blog world.  In 2006, she launched her blog – FatFree Vegan Kitchen – as a supplement to her already popular website, FatFree Vegan Recipes.  Her website contains over 1400 member-contributed vegan recipes.  However, Susan was looking for a place where she could share her own ideas.  At the time, food blogs were just beginning to pick up steam and there were very few that focused on vegan eating.  Susan quickly attracted a loyal following and today her blog garners more traffic than the original website.

Always an animal lover, the Hammond, La., native experimented with vegetarianism throughout her college years.  After reading the book, Diet for a New America, which examines the inhumane conditions that many animals that are bred for human consumption live in, Susan finally decided to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle permanently.  After six years as a vegetarian, she made the transition to totally vegan.

“Vegetarians don’t eat the flesh of animals–cows, pigs, birds, or sea creatures. Vegans go further and eliminate not just meat but also anything that was produced by animals, so we don’t eat eggs or dairy products, such as milk and cheese,” Susan explains.  “And we avoid using animal products as much as we can in our daily lives, so we don’t wear leather, wool, silk, or fur and we avoid household products that contain animal ingredients or are tested on animals.”

FatFree Vegan Kitchen focuses on preparing whole foods that are low in both fat and sugar.  It also teaches people how to make delicious meals using simple, natural ingredients, rather than packaged and processed foods.  In addition to recipes, Susan also provides readers a glimpse into the kitchen of her Jackson home that she shares with her husband David and daughter Elena.

Seven years later, FatFree Vegan Kitchen has won several awards, including “Best Food Blog” from the preeminent vegan magazine, VegNews, in addition to being mentioned in the Vegetarian Times, a magazine that has been at the forefront of the healthy living movement for more than 30 years.  The success of her blog has also opened up job opportunities that Susan never expected, such as doing food photography for cookbooks and advertisements.   She has been approached about writing a cookbook, something that she is considering for the future.  However, for now she will continue to improve the recipes and photos featured on her blog so that her readers keep coming back.

For anyone considering adopting a vegan lifestyle, Susan offers this advice, “Find some cookbooks or blogs you like and start cooking. You don’t have to go vegan all at once.  You can start out by finding a few vegan recipes you like and incorporating them into your diet.”

She adds, “Going vegan all at once can be overwhelming so for most people, I recommend easing into it, learning how to replace animal products with vegan ingredients as you go. You will be amazed at how easy it is to replace ingredients that you previously thought were essential, such as eggs in cakes. And you’ll be impressed with how delicious vegan dishes can be.”

FatFree Vegan Kitchen
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com

eat. drink. MISSISSIPPI
December 2012 / January 2013

Mandy Davis has been cooking since before she was old enough to see over the top of her grandmother’s kitchen counter.  As a young girl, Mandy helped her grandmother prepare meals for the children she kept in her home during the week.  Mandy’s task – making cornbread.  It was a staple at every meal and like most Southern dishes passed down from generation to generation, there was no recipe.  A little bit of this, a little bit of that, mix everything together and bake.  After being put in charge of such an important responsibility, Mandy knew she had her grandmother’s approval and the confidence to continue cooking.

Mandy launched her blog, “The Supermom Chef,” in 2010 so that she could combine her love of photography with her love of cooking.  She and her husband Matt live in Canton with their three children – an 8 year-old-boy and two girls ages 3 and 6.  Seven years ago, Mandy quit her full-time job to care for her son, who has been diagnosed with a rare disease that has required numerous surgeries and a lot of time in the hospital.  Despite the situation, Mandy still manages to keep an upbeat attitude while caring for her family, resulting in her being given the nickname “Supermom” by her close friends and family.  Since cooking is also a passion, the title “Supermom Chef” just seemed like the perfect fit.

However, Mandy is quick to point out, “I am, by no means, a trained chef. I have absolutely no formal culinary training. I’m simply a busy mom who enjoys preparing delicious food for my family and sharing my recipes with everyone else.”

Mandy hopes her blog will inspire more people to make dinner at home.   “This day in time, as busy as most families are the dinner table suffers,” she says.   “So many families think they don’t have time to make meals at home.”  Mandy tries to share recipes that are delicious, easy to prepare, and contain ingredients that are easy to find.  She also enjoys posting recipes from her past that her grandmother shared with her.

“When I prepare these recipes, it takes me back to her kitchen when she was right beside me,” she says.

So far, the response has been positive.  Mandy loves hearing from readers who have tried her recipes and come back to tell her how much their family enjoyed it.  She’s even gained a little notoriety.  “I had a friend tell me that a girl she was talking to saw me and said, ‘Oh my gosh! That was the Supermom Chef!’ Things like this blow me away because I never realized I’d be recognized like that.”

As for the future of this supermom, she hopes to one day turn her blog into a cookbook.  “I can’t imagine how it would feel to have all of my photos and recipes on paper and actually walk into a book store and see my book on a shelf,” she adds.  “Until then, I’ll continue making delicious recipes and sharing them with all of my faithful readers because that is what makes me the happiest!