John T. Edge

In 1999 John Edge was a founder of the Southern Foodways Alliance, under the auspices of the Center for Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. He served as the director of SFA until 2021, when he officially "retired", but seems to have been shown the door after some public criticism by black chefs who felt he had been serving himself more than his subjects in recent articles and symposium presentations. Edge was born in Georgia, raised in a house once owned by a Confederate show more General, and fed what he now calls "clap-trap" about lost causes and the rise of a new south by an alcoholic, frustrated mother who bought and furnished her home with "heirlooms" from a heritage she could not legitimately claim. He spent his college years trying to shed one false identity, only to take on another -- that of the partying frat boy, and then years later to be accused of appropriating the stories of others to give himself a name. Before what he calls "the wreck", he had become a highly regarded food writer, with several books to his credit. He currently serves the writing programs at Ole Miss and the University of Georgia, and writes a restaurant column for Garden & Gun magazine.

My reaction to this book is somewhat ambivalent; I enjoyed parts of it very much, but I thought it was a bit boggy in the mid-section, giving too much detail about various symposia, documentaries, etc., too much name-dropping, and not enough about the soul-searching that Edge was supposedly engaged in while trying to reconcile his past with his view of himself, and to come to terms with his own ambivalence about his mother. He came around to the point in the end, however, and would appear to have found peace and contentment with himself and the life he has built for his family. I may seek out some of his other work, and see what kind of a food-writer he is. After all, he has won my favorite food writer's namesake award: the M. F. K. Fisher Prize. show less

This is an autobiographical book about the author's life from his free-thinking eccentric mother to his advocacy of Southern Black cuisine through his writing and leadership of an organization trying to popularize local and regional chefs and recipes. It is a rocky road as he is muscled out of the organization that he helped found. Edge has an interesting story, but his ego comes into play maybe a little too much.

I come from Chicago. I bought hot dogs from a cart down the street. People would line up as soon as it parked. Puerto Rican food from a truck in Humbodlt Park. Mexican food, well all over the place. Tamales in the morning and elotes, sandia con chili y limon, mangos, fruit cups during the day ending with, to die for, tacos. All purchased from food carts and trucks. I love these foods. So when I saw this book I knew I had to check it out.

The book opens with a little bit of the author's show more history with truck food. It was interesting to read his experiences with food trucks, which included his own adventure as a food cart owner/operator. He then goes into the various places in the Untied States he visited. We have photographs of the food, trucks and people and we have recipes. If you have not visited a food truck I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised at what is served. Since I cannot afford to go on a food truck vacation across America, (a dream I now have thanks to this book), I am ecstatic at having the recipes available.

At the end of the book is a recounting of the authors adventure in selling hot dogs in New Orleans. That was some funny reading. Make sure you read that. You will not only laugh but you will come away with a deeper appreciation of food truck vendors. That is a rough job. I think i will stick to being a customer.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. The recipes are easy to follow and well written. None of the ones I made were hard for me to make. The ingredients were fairly easy for me to get and I am in small town Alaska where everything comes in by barge or plane. Trust me we do not have every food ingredient out there and some that we do get the price is so high we need to promise our first born to afford them. That I could find and afford all the ingredients for the recipes I chose to make was a bonus for me. There is much more included in the book. The author has included bits from various food trucks, recounted his adventures travelling around, (he was held hostage and nearly arrested at one place- how much fun can you have?) and photos. The photos are phenomenal. Most were taken by Angie Mosier. Angie also secured most of the recipes or came up with her own that matched the recipe. I really hope you will purchase this book. It really is a lot of fun to read and has great recipes. Just looking at the photos you will be drooling.

* I received a copy of this title from NetGalley for review purposes. I received no compensation for this review. All opinions are my honest thoughts and feelings.* show less

As a long-time fan of the culinary history works produced by the Southern Foodways Alliance, I was immediately drawn to this book. I'd honestly never heard of Iverson or most of his battles, but it was interesting to learn new facts about the Civil War and about rural Georgia, where I also lived for a few years as a child. Once his "cultural appropriation" penance is complete, I hope Mr Edge regains his footing in the world of substantive food writing because he has a gift for sniffing out show more the type of off-the-beaten-path eateries and culinary stories I prefer to enjoy on long road trips. show less