My mouth is watering! Every time I pick up Eat Drink
Delta: A Hungry Traveler’s Journey through the Soul of the South by Susan
Puckett with photographs by Langdon Clay, my stomach growls. Having fixated on
the scrumptious crawdaddies on the cover, I am surprised drool does not stream
from my mouth.
Not only does this book rouse my hunger for the various and
unusual foods (tamales and kibbee) of the region, but it rouses my desire to
hop in the plane and day-visit each and every destination. A little known fact:
when you fly into a small airport the fixed-based operator usually has a
courtesy car to offer you. Most are beat up ex-police cruisers, but these cars
are good enough to get one to town and back. Put a couple of dollars in the
tank and Bob’s your uncle.
Anyhoo, the book’s format is as if the reader is starting
in the north and traveling south. The first night’s stay is Memphis “fancy” at
the Peabody with a list of walkable good eats. Go right across the street to
the Rendezvous or climb the fire escape to Itta Bena on Beale. Hail a taxi to
Cooper and Young for the communal tables of the Beauty Shop or sit at Acre
Restaurant, the hottest gastronomic ticket in town. It’s all good!
The author includes recipes for barbecue accompaniments
such as Leonard’s Memphis Style Slaw and Alcenia’s (on North Main) Sweet Potato
Pie. Want to freshen your palate before the meal? She provides mixers such as
the Peabody Hotel’s Blue Suede Shoes Martini and The Presbyterian. Sorry, pit
masters, no barbecue secrets are divulged in these pages.
Next stop, Tunica and environs such as Uncle Henry’s Place
Inn and Restaurant at Moon Lake or The Hollywood, a honky-tonk that opened 1969
in bustling Hollywood, Miss. Puckett points out that both Hollywood and Moon
Lake have literary ties with Grisham mentioning the former eatery and Tennessee
Williams speaking of the latter.
The one Hill town mentioned is Como. I chuckle at the words
“hill town” having run every road in that small berg and the one hill is when I
cross the railroad tracks, but I digress. I enjoyed reading the Longreen Fox
Hunt and Blessing of the Hounds Breakfast section with the Longreen Fox Hunt
Hot Curried Fruit recipe as an old-fashioned accoutrement. Speaking of
old-fashioned, the Tomato Aspic recipe is on page 162.
Other towns on the stop include Cleveland, Greenville,
Leland, Greenwood, Yazoo City and Vicksburg. I am dying to try Lusco’s in
Greenwood, which sounds like the secret garden of culinary delight. Susan
Puckett is a native of Jackson, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of
this book go to fund the Puckett Family Journalism Scholarship at the
University of Mississippi.
