My latest column for the Charleston Gazette Mail:

Bologna for me growing up meant three things: Kraft American singles, white bread and mayo.

 If you’ve been “bologna sandwich broke,” you are probably also all too familiar with this combo and may have since phased it out of your lunch repertoire. Many can’t get over the smooth, floppy texture. Or, the sandwich may simply be reminiscent of tougher economic times.

But as an adult, I’m rediscovering this pink lunchmeat in the form of fried bologna, hot bologna sandwiches, pickled bologna and maybe even risotto. And, I’m not alone. New York City-based Momofuku founder David Chang has said bologna could be the next big “thing.”

“It’s a blank canvas of pureed meat, ready for inspiration to take hold. You can make it from duck, veal, chicken, pork, beef, and a variety of game. You can smoke it, use different spices, change just about anything about it,” he wrote in GQ Magazine.

“The problem right now is that there is no such thing as artisanal bologna. This blows my mind — we have craft doughnuts, beet pickles, beef jerky ... but no bologna? This needs to change. ... And the next time you visit your favorite restaurant, tell the chef to stop making tiny batches of that Italian stuff and start experimenting with great American bologna. Do that and it’s only a matter of time till bologna starts bumping pork belly off menus all over town.”

Bologna, like many beloved foods in Appalachia, is a product of immigration. It is derived from the Italian sausage mortadella, a fatty pork sausage, which has popular in the city of Bologna since the 15th century. It likely made its way to North America via German immigrants in areas like the Midwest, Pennsylvania and Appalachia, according to Eater.com.

Bologna is made from discarded or fatty parts of meat that are ground into sausages and cured like mortadella. It can contain garlic or other spices. It is cheap, keeps well and is easily produced — which made it readily accessible to those across the country.

Those characteristics allowed bologna to become a mainstay throughout Appalachia. But in true Appalachian fashion, there’s a twist — whether that is the toppings, how the bologna itself is prepared or traditions involving the lunchmeat.

You’ll find bologna on biscuit sandwiches at Tudor’s Biscuit World. You’ll find fried bologna sandwiches topped with a spicy BBQ sauce at bars. You’ll find it in pickled ropes in local country store jars.

These takes on American bologna showcase the resourcefulness and ingenuity of Appalachians. With some culinary magic, bologna is delicious — and can even last much longer with pickling. So if you’ve strayed from the quintessential American lunchmeat, it may be time to reunite. Just try it in one of the classic Appalachian ways.

 How do you like your bologna?

Here's my latest column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

The quintessential Appalachian fall day includes rainbow-hued leaves falling to the ground, cool breezes whipping through trees and a giant copper kettle.

That giant copper kettle is, of course, filled to the brim with apple butter.

A thick spread made by cooking apples with sugar and spices, apple butter is a fall delicacy in Appalachia, with many families and communities crafting their own homemade versions to last through the winter months.

It’s perfect on biscuits, toast, oatmeal, and just about anything that needs a little extra sweet and lightly spicy kick.

Creating a large copper kettle’s worth of apple butter takes time, patience and lots of apples.

It most often involves peeling, coring and chopping local apples; dumping them, along with cinnamon and other spices, into the copper kettle over fire; and stirring the mixture with a wooden paddle for hours.

This labor of love has persevered through the years — with festivals throughout the state celebrating the tradition. You’ll find apple butter festivals in Berkeley Springs, Salem and Chapmanville annually. Often, there are pageants, live music and contests to accompany the celebration of the fall staple.

Like many Appalachian foodways, the art of making apple butter was created to fill a need. Apples, which are plentiful in our mountainous region, can be preserved in the form of apple butter to last throughout cold winters.

Communities would often come together to make quick work of the task while also enjoying each other’s company. Those gatherings evolved into the festivals we know today.

While the festivals may be taking 2020 off, you’ll still find folks making smaller batches of this iconic fall treat at their homes. The community gathering aspect is an important piece of what makes apple butter so special — the memories, the hard work, the fun.

Fortunately, you can find solace in the rich, complex flavor of apple butter, knowing its long history and role in Appalachian food culture. The sweet, thick spread is deliciously steeped in resourcefulness and ingenuity.

Each bite is a taste of fall, with a touch of tradition.

Here's my latest column (yay, it's back!) for the Charleston Gazette Mail:
Let’s talk about Appalachia’s chicken of the sea: Trout.

When populations emigrated to West Virginia, they often brought with them dishes from their home countries and infused an Appalachian flair. In lieu of beef, a dish might incorporate venison. No fresh vegetables? Try pickled ones. And what used to be scallops and shrimp now calls for trout.

Trout is plentiful in rivers and streams throughout the state — specifically hidden in the nooks and crannies of flowing water. Brown, Rainbow and Brook Trout can be found wild throughout the region. The brook trout, West Virginia’s official state fish, is the only native trout.

If you’re lucky, you may have even caught a glimpse of a golden rainbow trout, which was selectively bred by West Virginia Division of Natural Resources biologists over several years and is now stocked in lakes and streams each spring.

While abundant in the wild, trout is the standout star when plated. It typically has a mild flavor and delicate, flaky texture. Trout is often baked or pan-seared — maybe with a little butter, lemon and parsley to accentuate the light flavors.

At The Restaurant at Elk River in Slatyfork, farm-raised rainbow trout is prepared with local herbs, baked and filleted table-side. Bluegrass Kitchen in Charleston has served it pan-seared with organic grits and braised kale with a bourbon mustard-dill sauce. And Tamarack in Beckley serves a local rainbow trout pan-seared in a simple lemon butter in their food court.

However the preparation, trout has become an integral part of our foodways in Appalachia — from high-end restaurants to families living off the land over many years.

Utilizing this native fish illustrates the rugged determination of Appalachians to not only create meals with what’s available but also elevate it using local, seasonal herbs and flavors.

Marion Ohlinger, chef and owner of Hill & Hollow Restaurant in Morgantown, keeps a trout option on his ever-changing, seasonal menu. Sometimes it’s smoked trout fondue with pan-fried flatbread. Other times, it may be an entrée with “chuno.”

“Several years ago, I was backpacking in the Andes along the Peru/Bolivia border, and I took a little boat out to the island of Taquile, in Lake Titicaca — the world’s highest navigable body of water and one of the purest on the planet,” Ohlinger said.

“There were no roads or electric on Taquile back then; I hope there still aren’t. I ate at a little home kitchen cafe by the water where they served fish caught right where you sat and cooked right in front of you over an open fire. There, I had the best trout I ever ate in my life. It was pan-fried in chuno, which is crushed, dried potato, and topped with sautéed local berries and spicy peppers.”

When he returned to West Virginia, he replicated the meal with Appalachian ingredients for his previous restaurant, Richwood Grill. He sun-dried local potatoes from the farmers’ market, then ground them in a grain mill for what he dubbed “hillbilly chuno.”

How do you prefer your trout?

Chuno

You can make your own chuno by simply buying instant potato flakes at the grocery store, then grinding them in a blender, adding salt and white pepper to taste. Be sure to buy the quality flake; no preservatives, just dried potato.

The berries and pepper topping is easy: blackberries and jalapenos from the garden, quick-seared in a cast-iron skillet for 30 seconds with a pinch of salt. I’ve always meant to try it with elderberries, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

For less spice, you can use bell peppers, and for more spice, any pepper that suits your Scoville jones. Dredge the trout in the potato mix, and pan-fry in bacon fat (of course) on medium heat for about three minutes flesh side down, then flip it over to the skin side, turn off the heat, and let it rest in the pan five minutes before topping with the berry mix and serving.

Plan on one trout per person, and about a half cup of berries/peppers per person.

My last column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, for now:

In these times of uncertainty, there’s one sure comfort: Girl Scout Cookies.

You know them as Samoas, Tagalongs, Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Trefoils, Toffee-Tastics, Girl Scout S’mores and the new Lemon-Ups.

As a young Girl Scout, I peddled the classic cookies up and down my neighborhood, vying for a coveted prize like inflatable furniture or a neon T-shirt. It was the ’90s, after all.

My love for Girl Scout Cookies began at a young age (namely, Samoas), and it’s continued throughout my life (now, Tagalongs). Not just because they’re delicious, but also because of what they represent: young women entrepreneurs learning key skills to make them leaders.

Recently, I was honored to participate in the 2020 Girl Scout Cookie Taste-Off. This event featured Girl Scout-created desserts that highlighted six of the cookies. Girl Scout Cookies are no doubt tasty, but they can also be incorporated into so many desserts, which makes them very versatile. Just look at this lineup of delicious creations:

- Tagalongs Do-si-dos Cupcake
- Thin Mints Sweet and Salty Mix
- Tagalong Shake
- Girl Scout S’more Campfire Cupcakes
- Trefoils Cheesecake Cup
- Samoa Brownie Parfait
If you missed out, you can make these at home by following recipes supplied by the bakery, Little Brownie Bakers.

The desserts were truly scrumptious. Each bite was made more so knowing that the program — and organization — is dedicated to helping develop girls into leaders across the state and beyond.

Sweet in flavor and sweet in satisfaction — a match made in cookie heaven.

In full disclosure, I am employed by the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council, and opinions expressed here do not reflect or express those of the Council. They are solely my own. I’ve always loved Girl Scout Cookies, so I am excited to share my devotion — no matter where I am.

Here's my latest column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

The sugar maple stands tall as West Virginia’s official state tree.

It could be because of the brilliant red and gold colors the five-lobed leaves turn in the fall. Or it could be because of the cool shade the towering tree provides during the blistering summer months. Or, more likely, it’s because of the sap harvested during the spring to produce maple syrup.

The maple season in West Virginia runs for about two months — but it’s all dependent on the weather. Ideal maple syrup conditions call for warm days and freezing nights. That’s because the below-freezing temperatures help pull sap from out of the roots of the trees. And then the warmer days help the sap flow through the tubing lines that are connected to multiple trees and collect into one large tank.

Gone are the days of hanging buckets under spouts to harvest sap that is then carried down to a sugar shack. The practice has become much more streamlined thanks to technological advances, and with that has come a return of the art of harvesting.

Appalachians are well-known for being self-reliant and making good use of the land, as is the case with ramps, morels and maple syrup. Harvested from maple trees, the syrup was used as a sweetener throughout the year. But the practice waned as sugar and other syrups became readily available at the supermarket.

The practice, though, is a piece of Appalachian history and a foundation for many of the foods we continue to enjoy today. The sweet tradition will live on through our history — and tastebuds.

My latest column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

Here’s the scoop: Salt is a miracle mineral.

Salt has served as a food preservative for thousands of years. It enhances the flavor of food by suppressing bitter flavors and increasing sweet, sour and umami flavors. It also plays a large role in creating texture, like in bread, cheese and steak.

The elements found in salt, sodium and chlorine, are essential to survival — they help with maintaining fluid balance, nerve transmission and impulses, and muscle functions to relax and contract. As is often the case, too much of a good thing can be bad, but the human body cannot live without salt.

Maybe some of those reasons are why salt was the first West Virginia mineral industry to be developed.

First, it was the deer and buffalo who frequented a salt spring along the Kanawha River. Then Native Americans followed the animal trails to the springs to acquire their supply. Captive pioneers who had accompanied the Native Americans later escaped and shared the story of the springs. As settlers occupied the Kanawha Valley, the salt springs became an economic driver, being sold as a preservative for butter and meats.

In the industry’s heyday, there were more than 50 furnaces in the Kanawha Salines area, producing more than 3 million bushels a year and making it one of the largest salt manufacturing centers in the United States. Flooding destroyed most of the salt mines in 1861 and precipitated the decline of the industry, according to the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey.

The salt industry has even inspired other industries to make the Kanawha Valley their home. Those based on salt brine, like chlorine and caustic acid, have since established locations locally.

West Virginia artisans have resurrected the salt-making tradition in recent years, again making the Kanawha Valley a salt destination.

J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works, located in Malden, is a seventh-generation salt-making business that hand-harvests all-natural salt from the ancient ocean trapped below the Kanawha Valley and produces finishing salt that can be found in restaurants and kitchens across the country.

They produce finishing salt, as well as popcorn salt, craft cocktail salt, brine mix, caramel sauce, nigari and so much more with this product created deep within the ground.

While I could go on about how great the products are and the flavor they add to meals, what I really love about this company — and others — is that it is tapping into its Appalachian heritage.

Salt has had a deep, profound influence on our foodways and customs. From preservation of food to basic bodily functions, salt has played a role. It enhances the flavor of meals, all while paying tribute to our place and traditions.

Sprinkle a bit of Appalachian salt to witness the miracle.

Here's my latest column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

My latest column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

What do pepperoni rolls, Big Macs and Primanti Brothers sandwiches have in common?

It’s not that they’re all tasty. Try again.

The common thread among these three foods is that they are all inspired by workers in Appalachian industries — whether that’s coal miners or steel workers.

In these tough working environments, lunch options can be limited. Maybe that means people can’t leave for a meal, or maybe that means they have only a short period to eat.

These foods are products of their environment. They’ve been inspired by needs and appetites of Appalachian workers. And the result is, indeed, quite tasty.


Pepperoni rolls

Many people emigrated from Calabria, Italy, to north-central West Virginia to work in the coal mines in the late 1800s and early 1900s. And they brought along food from home: cured meats, fresh bread, etc.

So, oftentimes, a lunch in West Virginia coal mines consisted of those same foods. Sometime between 1927 and 1938, Giuseppe Argiro — who once worked in the coal mines — commercialized a new concept of combining those two ingredients.

And the pepperoni roll was born. It became a portable, shelf-stable meal that could be eaten with just one hand and would last all day long in a lunch pail in the coal mines.

The pepperoni roll has since taken on a life of its own and is enjoyed by all. New takes on the pepperoni roll include adding cheese, peppers, sauce and more. But many of those reasons that allowed for its rise in popularity continue to propel it forward: It’s perfect for road trips, tailgating and lunchtime snacks, making it West Virginia’s unofficial food.

Big Macs

Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun. That iconic McDonald’s sandwich was created right here in Appalachia.

The Big Mac debuted in 1967 in the Great Pittsburgh area. Jim Delligatti, who operated several McDonald’s restaurants in the area, invented the sandwich in the kitchen of his Ross Township location and debuted it at his Uniontown restaurant. By 1968, the sandwich went nationwide, according to Reader’s Digest.

The inspiration for the sandwich came from none other than the local industry: steel. During the 1960s, legend says many of Delligatti’s customers were steel workers who had just spent a long day laboring at the steel mills. A simple cheeseburger wasn’t enough to satisfy their appetites, so he began experimenting with two patties — and eventually leading to the sauce, lettuce, pickles and onion.

And, that wasn’t Appalachia’s only contribution to the fast-food giant. Delligatti also helped develop the restaurant’s breakfast menu, according to Business Insider. He fed steel workers who had just finished overnight shifts hotcakes and sausage meals.


Pittsburgh sandwiches

The giant sandwiches that are topped with meat, provolone cheese, thick-cut French fries and vinegar-based coleslaw all stacked between two slices of Italian bread are a Pittsburgh specialty.

Most notably served at Primanti Brothers, these sandwiches are rumored to have been made for steel workers in the 1930s so busy steel workers could quickly have an entire meal, all in one sandwich, quickly and easily. Others claim it was created for truck drivers — but, either way, the sentiment remains the same.

Food is such an integral part of our culture that it’s influenced by our daily life and industry. These foods have been created around our work lives, and their very existence is rooted in our place and our labor.

Here's my latest column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

You may have seen the giant, green balls littering lawns and fields, dropping on top of cars, and maybe bouncing off sidewalks this fall.

The black walnut — a greenish-yellow tennis ball-sized hull that encapsulates a dark, slightly bitter and smoky nut — is an autumn Appalachian signature.

Many rural families take to the woods in search of the meaty treasures before hauling them home to remove the husk and crack the shell. It’s a labor of love to dig out the meat of the nut — which includes soaking, heavy-duty crackers and a pick.

But is it worth it? Some think so.

The walnut itself divides families: Either you love the flavor or you find it too bitter. If you fall into that first category, you may be one of those who are keeping up the tradition of hand harvesting black walnuts. Or, if that sounds like too much work, you can often find them at a local farmer’s market and enjoy the fruits without the effort. If you’re not a fan, you may pay someone to take them off your hands — and yard.

There is an entire town in West Virginia that celebrates this fall delicacy. At the West Virginia Black Walnut Festival, Spencer hosts a bake contest which must include black walnuts, a food court that incorporates the nut and vendors who pay homage to the nut.

Black walnuts are great in baked goods like muffins and cakes. They also pair perfectly with fudge and even ice cream. Local chefs have even incorporated them into savory dishes featuring fish or beef. Just be careful to not let the bitter flavor overpower all the other flavors in a meal.

Securing the black walnut is still a pastime for many families, as black walnuts remain wild and are hand harvested. It’s yet another fruit from the land that has prompted Appalachians to be innovative and creative with their meals to incorporate the local food. The black walnut is just one more example of how Appalachians have made creative use of the sustenance they have available to create delicious meals that are rooted in place.

Whether you prefer black walnuts in your ice cream or not, the role they play in Appalachia’s food culture is clear. Which side are you on? Pro- or anti-black walnut?

Here's my latest column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

You’ll see them hanging low and ripe near streams and lakes. You’ll find them in low-laying areas along fences and roadsides. You’ll find them in ditches and along rivers.

Elderberries are growing across Appalachia in these late summer weeks — many of which will be turned into ciders, wines, jellies, syrups and cold remedies.

The small dark purple-black berries have a sweet, juicy interior with a bit of an astringent aftertaste. And that lends itself to the question of whether the berries are food or poison.

The answer? Both.

“The berries are juicy and edible when mature. The cooked berries are commonly eaten in pies and jams, and berry juice can be fermented into wine. The fresh leaves, flowers, bark, young buds, and roots contain a bitter alkaloid and also a glucoside that, under certain conditions, can produce hydrocyanic acid,” according to a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in 1984 from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The amount of acid produced is usually greatest in young leaves. There may be other toxic constituents in this plant. The root is probably the most poisonous and may be responsible for occasional pig deaths; cattle and sheep have died after eating leaves and young shoots.”

And our Appalachian ancestors took it even a step further by using the peculiar berry as medicine. It’s not uncommon to see a local cold remedy or flu treatment made with elderflower, which many people consider powerful in treating these common ailments. Some create a tincture with the berries and alcohol to consume for better health. Some research has indicated it is effective at shortening the duration of colds and flu, though more research is needed.

The elderberry also plays a role in folklore and myths — whether it’s a goddess protective of those who treated the tree well or symbolic of witches or wards off evil spirits in stories that originated in the United Kingdom and much of Europe.

This versatile berry has a varied role in Appalachian culture. Some may avoid it due to its potentially dangerous effects, while others prize it for its flavor and value in baked goods and drinks. Many others see elderberries as a medicine to help alleviate symptoms of a common cold or flu. One thing is for sure, this little potentially poisonous berry can be quite tasty.