If you think Texas belongs in a documentary about Southern food, now's the time to say so.
The Southern Foodways Alliance is asking folks to submit, via its Facebook page, "the one dish/ingredient/food event/restaurant/etc. from your home area that you'd like to see in a documentary abt Southern food." The post drew dozens of responses in its first hour, including mullet roe, poke sallat, banana pudding, hush puppies and Frogmore stew.
The SFA is presumably asking on behalf of staff filmmaker Joe York, who's working on a feature called Southern Food: The Movie. York told The Atlantic earlier this year that he hopes public television stations across the South will consent to air the film
simultaneously.
There aren't yet any uniquely Texan suggestions on the list, but York's already shot some footage here. While in state for the first meeting of Foodways Texas, York captured images of sausage makers and fishermen.
When I saw York in College Station, we had the inevitable conversation about where the South begins -- and whether it includes Texas. Personally, I draw the South's boundaries according to the availability of premade sweet tea: Serving tea with a sugar caddy and a spoon doesn't count.
By my definition, Texas doesn't belong to the culinary South. But York's told the Atlantic
he's making room in the movie for East Texas. That means it's up to you to recommend which "dish/ingredient/food event/restaurant/etc." he should include.
