Smithsonian exhibit comes to town

By By Robert St. John / food columnist
June 2, 2004
The Smithsonian, or at least a small branch of it, has set up camp in my hometown of Hattiesburg.
Last week we cut the ribbon and officially opened the Key Ingredients Exhibit at the Hattiesburg Public Library. The exhibit, sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council, covers 500 years in the life of American food: How it is produced, how it is consumed, how it has evolved, and the impact certain foodstuffs have had on individual communities. A cookbook project is aligned with the exhibit and local cooks and chefs in each town are contributing recipes and stories.
A quick visit to the Key Ingredients Web site www.keyingredients.org will give one a feel of the subjects covered by the Key ingredients exhibit. Better still, a leisurely visit to the Hattiesburg Library before June 25 will give one a feel of the components that have made up this area's culinary heritage.
In addition to the items in the national exhibit, there are bits and pieces of the local food scene scattered throughout. Remembrances by local cooks, photographs and memories of dining establishments long gone, various bits and pieces of our culinary heritage it's all there.
Every town has unique food traditions. Eating is so woven into the cloth of our daily lives that we sometimes overlook its importance and contribution to society. We eat three times a day, or, if you're like me, five times a day. There is nothing we do more.
In writing this column, I searched for the one Southern ingredient that would be the key ingredient to the dining culture of this region. Craig Claiborne said that the holy trinity of Southern cooking is: bacon grease, cornmeal and sugar.
Are those the key ingredients? Possibly. Certainly fried chicken and catfish would be key ingredients in our part of the country. But Mississippians have more than a meat-and-three blue plate mentality. We are a diverse region with diverse food traditions.
It dawned on me as I ate lunch with my family yesterday. The key ingredient in Southern food is not bacon grease, cornmeal, or sugar. It's not catfish, or chicken, or even sweet tea. The key ingredient is: People.
We are what make our food and culinary traditions so memorable. My fried chicken can only be marginally better or worse than yours. Biscuits at one house are going to taste pretty close to those prepared at another house. It's the people that make the difference.
My grandmother's leg of lamb was probably as good as the next grandmother's, but it is still the dish I would choose if I were ever afforded a last meal. It tasted great, but the people who were sitting around the table enjoying that lamb, the friendships that were strengthened, the stories that were shared, and the memories that were made, are what make the difference. It's not the food, it's the people. It's us.
I don't know if the Key Ingredients exhibit is what James Smithson, the distinguished British scientist, and founder of the Smithsonian, had in mind when he bequeathed his life's work and savings to found that great institution.
However, the Brits are certainly lacking in the area of culinary arts. So, I am sure if Smithson were alive today he would gladly sit with us at any South Mississippi dinner table and enjoy second helpings of butter beans, field peas, fried okra, squash casserole, cornbread and blackberry cobbler, never longing for kippered herring, bangers and mash, blood pudding and un-iced, unsweetened tea.
The Smithsonian has more than 140 million irreplaceable items in its permanent collection. Once the Key Ingredients exhibit has visited its 150th city, I look forward to traveling to our nation's capital, and strolling the corridors of those great buildings on the National Mall, where I hope to see such precious items as: The original Frostop mug, an order of curly fries from the Coney Island Cafe on Main Street, a large slab of Mrs. Leatha's ribs, a hot dog from the California Sandwich Shop, and maybe an order of fried green tomatoes from the Purple Parrot Caf and Crescent City Grill proudly displayed beside the Hope Diamond, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 space module, and the stunning works of Rodin and Degas.
It would be poetic justice for the entire Southern region to see those great foodstuffs, representing our culinary heritage, displayed with such national prominence. After the viewing, we'll walk outside, make a large batch of sweet tea, fill the Reflecting Pool with gravy, and sit down to a large dinner on the grounds, South Mississippi style.
Robert St. John is an author, chef, restaurateur and world-class eater. He is the owner/executive chef of the Purple Parrot Caf, Crescent City Grill and Mahogany Bar in Hattiesburg and Meridian. He can be reached at www.nsrg.com.