Hello, Mississippi! It’s day one of the annual Southern Foodways Symposium, organized by the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford, Mississippi. The SFA does incredible work documenting the food cultures of the South, and as a pre-game kick off to the symposium, yesterday we took a side trip to the Delta, often called the most Southern place on earth. Stay tuned for more from the symposium itself. But here’s what we’ve learned so far.


 
1. Eat hot tamales like a push pop. Don’t unwrap them. Just push that meat and corn goodness right on up. They’re like fast food, only much, much better, especially when you buy them from the back of a van outside of Po’ Monkey’s Lounge.
 
2. One bale of cotton = 500 pounds
 
3. Goat is good.
 
4. Gentle Lee Rainey not only has one of the best names ever, he also makes a damn fine tamale. Go see him at Delta Fast Food on Highway 61 in Cleveland, Mississippi.

5. Po’ Monkey's Lounge, outside Merigold, is without a doubt the greatest bar in the world. Hands down. No question. Just go.

6. A bottle of Jack goes down awfully quick when it’s passed around the back of a bus full of Southern foodies.

Here are some snapshots from yesterday's Delta adventure: