On newstatnds now, the new Garden & Gun, in which I sing the praises of Bertha's a Lowcountry soul food stardard bearer in the Neck, just north of Charleston, SC. Beautiful pics in the newstand edition. A teaser of said pics here in the online version.

Hummus gets the "United Tastes" treatment in today's NYT.

Set in Minneapolis, where the Wadi family, operators of Holy Land, are experimenting with various flavored hummus varieties, including peanut butter hummus, the piece closes with a reference to "Hummus: The Rap," a tongue-in-cheek music video that's worth a watch-and-listen.

Latest installment in my "United Tastes" series for the NYT ran today. It's a look at how Vietnamese families across the country are interpreting Louisiana restaurant culture, selling crawfish, some of which gets a boil in water flavored with lemongrass stalks. Click here.

New issue of Garden & Gun is on the stands.

Click here to read my take on Catalan in Houston, a restaurant that sounds Catalonian, but tastes Houstonian.

I'm honored to announce that an Oxford American piece I wrote, exploring race relations by way of barbecue, is a finalist for the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James Beard Foundation.

Here's a link to the piece.

The Oxford American food issue is now on the stands.

I guested edited. And I'm proud as hell of what we wrought. You'll have to buy a mag to get the full scope of the effort. But here are links to my guest editorial and Todd Kliman's kick ass profile of the peripateic chef Peter Chang.

Just sent my new street food book text to editor. Let the bourbon drinking begin.

Meanwhile, new photos from the project, taken by my colleague Angie Mosier, are posted here.

Got a couple pieces in the new Garden & Gun magazine.

One on a new wine, a shiraz from Australia, aged in used bourbon barrels.

A second on Town House, the avant garde restaurant in Chilhowie, Virginia.

A paean to the po-boy, written for the nice folks at the NYT.

The 12th Southern Foodways Symposium has concluded.

With a ballet. Inspired by pork. Choreographed by Trey McIntyre.

Take a look at the dancers below, from Ballet Memphis.

And conjure the song "Gimme Gimme Chitlins" by Huey Piano Smith.

And you have an inkling of what transpired.

Photo by Pableaux Johnson