For 10 years, working with the best writers anywhere and always through the lens of a better South, Bitter Southerner has published stories about the foods of our region. Some of these stories have earned these writers nominations and wins from the prestigious James Beard Awards. Last summer, The Bitter Southerner brought home the big prize for Food Coverage at the awards ceremony in Chicago.

Inside this anthology are 21 of Bitter Southerner’s favorite stories from the magazine’s first decade. You’ll read about oyster tongers, fried burgers, white trash cooking, a legendary food critic, rosin potatoes, Natty Light, farmers facing climate change, making sorghum the right way, steamed sandwiches, Houston hip-hop and Chinese chicken, beans and rice, historic lunch counters, Tennessee tamales, lemon meringue pie, country music cookbooks, our complicated love affair with tomatoes, and the demise of a chicken. 
Writing that stirs the pot. Dig in. 

Cover photo by Whitney Ott