Have you ever tried an Arvil Burger, or sipped a cup of the Hotel Roanoke’s peanut soup? Probably not, but you’d better believe that Fred Sauceman has. The roaming journalist, filmmaker, and professor at East Tennessee State University has left nary a small town or holler untouched in his lifelong quest to catalog the foods of the Southern mountains.

Every few months, it seems, another Charleston, South Carolina, chef opens a buzzed-about new spot downtown. Jacques Larson isn’t all that eager to push his way in. A veteran of several downtown establishments, he now cooks on the fringes of town at the rustic Johns Island restaurant Wild Olive and at the brand-new Obstinate Daughter, wedged between the grand old beach houses on Sullivan’s Island. Just blocks from the Atlantic, the Obstinate Daughter takes some cues from the Italian menu at its sister restaurant, but even more from its surroundings. “First and foremost, it’s a Southern restaurant,” Larson says. “We’re borrowing from Italian cuisine, but the menu is rooted in local produce.”

As a child, chances are you learned about the five food groups: fruits, vegetables, dairy, grains, and meat. The Southern Foodways Alliance has decided to rewrite the food pyramid in 2014 by introducing the twelve Southern food groups. Each month this year, the SFA will pair up with Garden & Gun to explore one food group that’s essential to our region’s cuisine.

Get your green ready. It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day, and whether you’re heading to work or gearing up to spend the day drinking, you’ll need to be prepared. The folks at Atlanta’s H&F Bread Company, an extension of the popular Holeman & Finch restaurant, are now taking orders for Irish soda cakes, pastrami-and-gruyere pretzel ficelles, and hearty potato, white cheddar, and chive scones. If you can’t stop by the bakery, try whipping up assistant head baker Eddie Wright’s scones at home with this recipe.