FOOD & FESTIVALS
North Carolinians enjoy eating and cooking so much that they hold festivals in honor of their favorite delicacies, such as apples and watermelons, seafood and turkey, even pickles and collard greens.
Pork is a basic fare, and Tar Heel cooks can prepare it in many delicious ways: sausage biscuits with grits, country ham with red eye gravy, livermush (in a sandwich or with eggs) and of course barbecue, or, as it is commonly spelled, BBQ. BBQ is chopped pork slowly cooked so the hickory flavor is just right. But the key ingredient is the sauce, and the debate over which kind is best is intense and heated. Eastern Carolina BBQ features a vinegar-based sauce, while western North Carolinians use a tomato-based sauce. | | | The city of Lexington — which features a Western variation — is considered the BBQ capital of the state.
In North Carolina, you'll find BBQ any way you like it, on a bun or as an entrée and served up with coleslaw, hushpuppies and baked beans.
On the Atlantic coast near the South Carolina line, there’s a fishing village called Calabash. It lends its name to a style of cooking known all along the Carolina coast, a laid-back, fill-the-stomach, easygoing manner of cooking and eating. From lean-to oyster shacks to fancy gourmet-style restaurants, the fresh oysters, clams, crabs, scallops and shrimp are generally fried to be called Calabash, but certain connoisseurs tell us seafood can be steamed or shucked and gobbled down raw with drawn butter, or broiled lightly and eaten with a squeeze of lemon juice. As a local states, “Calabash is a style of eating fresh seafood where you are – right here – however you like it.” ............................................................. |
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