Southern Cooking

The NYT has an article in today's edition praising the revival of "traditional" southern cooking.  As usual in these kinds of reporting, they focus on the very high end chefs and the boutique farms that serve them.  A gentleman farmer who seemingly makes a good living raising 200 pigs which gourmet restaurants around the country slaver for; a rice and grain expert who is bringing back the original ingredients for "hoppin john", and various other players who rarely get their hands dirty.  No mention of "artisanal" produce.  I guess regular dirt farmers don't rate unless they are growing collards or kale from 17th century heirloom seed, if then.  Meanwhile, the local NPR station did a small feature on a couple of locals who started a CSA several years ago.  I've seen some of their stuff and I guess their customers are either hopeless romantics who are dead set on supporting local agriculture, or clueless about what good organic produce looks like.   But it's good to see a couple of guys making a living off a few acres of produce in the Champlain valley.  What I am driving at is the gradual reinvention of agriculture, circa 2011.  I hope it continues in the new year.