Nelson Salgado Presents:

The table is set. All the ingredients have blend perfectly creating a dish that is able to get anyone satisfied with the very first morsel: “Southern Culture Stew” is the name of such a delicatessen, enjoyed even by the most demanding palates.

* 1 Slice of Folk Art

It is worth to mention that this recipe could vary depending on the chef. This time, the expert culinary chefs duo Fyke and Karlowski have decided to start today’s recipe with a little bit of “Folk Art”. Distant from artistic movements or trends, folk art finds its inspiration within the culture where is developed and the historical period when it occurs. As the main purpose of folk art pieces is utilitarian (and sometimes decorative) Southerners have known how make beautiful what normally just had to be useful.

For instance, the Mississippian Jim Sudduth is a proof of it, who used discarded materials such as old wood to create his works. From New Orleans, Louisiana, Sister Gertrude Morning experimented with painting, where she used to tell bible stories since her personal perspective. She is also famous because of her work with fabrics as we appreciate in her famous one called “Turkey Tail Quilt”. For its creation, Sister Morgan created patterns using this quilting technique.

* 2 Spoonfuls of Mary Hull and Andrew Bucci

Mary Hull was the pupil of Andrew Bucci and this relation caused two marked periods in Mary Hull’s work. The first one, more identified with a traditional fashion style, is full of impressionism. In contrast, the second period of her work is more identified with an abstract style, which is reflected in one her most famous paintings “Bright Fields”. Made in a canvas with oil paint, this art piece makes honor to its name with its bright red and pink tones leaving the appreciators the option to give their own interpretation. Her male counterpart, Andrew Bucci, also a Mississippian attended to the Art Institute of Chicago and it worked to show the techniques he learned at the university to Mary Hull. Both of them are considered important exponents of Southern art.

* Let’s add more flavor to our dish with a little bit of Theora Hamblett…

Born in Paris, Mississippi, she was a self-taught painter, who ironically was also a teacher. At the age of ten, her father passed away which is a very important chapter of her life. As she felt a special connection with her father, he was source of inspiration for her paintings. For instance, she inherited her love to trees from her father.

Her work has been cataloged as naïve, outsider, folk, simplistic and the least likable adjective: “primitive”. In her paintings, she used to paint memories of her childhood: the life with her family in a predominantly rural environment. This part of her work has been classified as “Old home memories”. Theora also loved to paint what has been called “Childhood games”, groups of children playing traditional games finding her inspiration in the physical education classes that she used to teach. “Vision and Dreams” is the third category, in which, her visions that almost scratch in extra-sensorial experiences were her muses and they were almost always related with her family’s members.

Theora worked with oil paint, she used to do the background first and then painting over it. Yellow and red are always present in her work.

* 6 spoonfuls of IEP Students’Paintings

Chef Fyke and Chef Karlowski thought that a good sauce for our dish might be a “dressing” prepared with paintings made by IEP students. Our delicious experience consisted of taking a picture of a landscape and then, painting it using Theora’s Hamblett’s style, at the same time trying to express ourselves. In my particular case, I tried to use the characteristic dots and the yellow color of Ms. Hamblett’s work. My personal touch was painting with colors such as medium-gray, dark-green, oxford, white, and black to represent what was in my picture: A dawn.

* This dish is open my appetite. Now, a bit of William Faulkner to season…

William Faulkner, a writer native from the state of Mississippi, represents one of the most prolific litterateurs in the Southern United States. Acclaimed because of his writing style identified with the stream of consciousness, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.

Even though he was dedicated to write novels, short stories also comprise part of his work. “A Rose for Emily” is a well-known one. A little fictional town in Mississippi is the narrator of this story, who tells us the story of Emily Greirson, a woman whose over-protector father marked her life and made her unable to establish healthy relations with men. This is proved when Emily knows Homer, a Northerner constructor whose job makes him to leave for a certain time. Emily’s emotional instability is reflected when she went to the pharmacy and bought arsenic, allegedly for killing rats, but her purpose was so different.

Even though it is not explicitly told in the story, in a tacit way, Faulkner influences us to believe that she used the arsenic to poison Homer. Her neighbors had been complaining about a terrible smell from Miss Greirson’s house, without knowing that they were going to find a chilling discovery; Homers skeleton was surrounded by Emily’s hair which makes them think that she laid with the cadaver after his death.

Williams Faulkner’s detailed narrative characterized by long paragraphs, almost endless sentences turn his writing a little difficult for non-native speakers, but there is no doubt that his unique style to portrait Southern society through his novels and stories is his distinct label.

Visiting his residence in Oxford is a mandatory experience for any Oxford’s visitor. Since one gets in to Rowan Oak (Faulkner’s house in Oxford) one can fill how special that place is. A path surrounded by tall trees says welcome to everyone who visits this old house. Getting inside of the structure, a corridor divides a series of rooms where Faulkner and his family lived since 1930 through 1962.

His personal library is the closest room to the main door. On front of it, his piano lays in space dedicated to celebrate family’s special events. Ahead, his office, where used to spend the majority of his time, so much so his bed is placed there. Between the dining room and the kitchen, there is a space that attracts everyone’s attention. In a tiny corner lays his phone and the wall next to it, has many several phone numbers written on it.

Bedrooms are located upstairs. It is worth to mention that Faulkner and his wife used to sleep in separate rooms. Their daughter Jill’s room and a special one for guests complete the second floor.

The house is now a museum and there are expositions of personal articles or Faulkner’s quotes all over the residence.

Despite his problems with alcohol, his work shows us a beautiful mind that is the pride of Mississippi.

* To Finish Our Recipe, One Spoonful of “Southern Cuisine”

Food is a central aspect for any culture. Its preparation, ingredients, stories about it reflects the feelings and sorrows of the members of a society. As Marcie Cohen Ferris remarks, “food is directly related with the construction of a regional and national identity”. Food feasts, picnics and church dinners are an inherit part of the Southern history, therefore, it allowed the development of many different dishes whose ingredients vary from beans, chicken or biscuit dough to corn. This last one has been used to prepare the famous “tamales”.

The interactions between African-American and Mexican laborers became as a result that tamales are now wide spread all over the Mississippi basin. They used to sell and eat tamales during the cotton harvest time, mainly in winter. A portion of seasoned corn dough covered with corn leaf and patiently boiled during several hours is what is called “tamale”. They are always refilled with a type of meat (generally pork). I’m getting hungry just mentioning it, given that it is a very popular traditional food in Central America where I am from. Scott’s Tamales is a family business that has became custom in the Mississippi Delta. A Mexican recipe, creativity and hard work were the keys to its success and to survive in a modern world where people prefers a “happy meal” rather than trying a custom or traditional dish.

Mix all the mentioned ingredients together. Discard any “prejudice seed” that you found in any of the ingredients. Cook with low heat for the length of your exchange in Ole Miss. Our “Southern Culture Stew is almost done”, Chef Fyke and Chef Karlowski recommend season this dish with salt and pepper. This recipe serves for six international students. Enjoy it!