FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Thank You Please Come Again Author Kate Medley - Midday Mobile - Monday 6-24-24
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In hour number two, phone number, same as it ever was. 3430106, same for the text line and a reminder too when you had the FM Talk 1065 app. It gives you yet another option leaving us a talkback message when you press the microphone icon right there on the front page of the app. It'll record your message and emails it to the show and I can play it back here on the air. All right mentioned it last hour and this is very good and we were just talking about fuel in the last segment so this works out because photojournalist Kate Medley is joining us at her publication here. Thank you please come again how gas stations feed and fuel the American South. You are a connoisseur of the finest food in the South. Kate, welcome to the show. You're from Mississippi, right? So we'll get your, uh, bona fides on it as you get started. So you know some southern gas station food. Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi and not been called to connoisseur before but I'll take it. Yes. I've been 10 years traveling around the South and making these gas stations, you know, stop along the way to learn about where I'm at and what's for lunch. Part of it too is I think we communicate in the South that the word gets out of this specific gas station, this other place, you got to go there for their chicken. You got to go there for the, you know, for the potato long. She got to go there for like we like we picked ones that went on certain things. Oh, I want chicken. I'm going to go to this station or I want something else. I'm going to that station. Absolutely. And when you start digging in, you know, it's not just, I got to go to this station. You got to go to this station, but go on Tuesday for 11 because that's when Tammy's cooking. Yes. And she's the best brush hook in all of Alabama. You know, it was this, this type of search that really kept me going. Okay. So you, do you had this idea? You said, okay, we need to get this message out. You're going to let the rest of the country know. I mean, you know, you have a national audience that listens, you know, looks at what you listen to your interviews and looks at the books and the pictures you take. Is this not the same elsewhere? I mean, we're like, I'm used to this as being part of our culture. Is it not true in the Northeast or out west or Midwest? We have been pretty unique going on in the South. I think that some other regions might be able to argue that in rural areas, this, this trend, you know, a lot of places in Mississippi and Alabama, the gas station might be the only commercial output for a while. And so that gas station has to, you know, serve fuel and also have clean restrooms, but also have groceries. You know, in some cases, live bait, some cases, ammunition, hardware. But if you're lucky, you know, they have a grill and they're just not hot food. And I found that, you know, some of the best food that we have on offer in the South can be found at these places. And you can learn a lot about, you know, the community you're in and who lives there and what their priorities are by the way of the menu, you know, are you, are they serving barbecue? Or are they serving Indian samosas? Or are they serving tacos? You know, food's behind the grill and what are they cooking that day? You know, I like to say they, if you look at the gas station and they're doing food, they're trying to feed people and make a living. It is a, a culinary meritocracy, right? The food that, I mean, it is, it's not there because somebody went, you know, they studied in New York and they were forced to really think about this French cooking. And this is better because of all these other, it's what people want to eat, right? I mean, it's a meritocracy. Exactly. Again, especially in these rural areas, the commonality that you see on these menus is it's inexpensive, it's hot, the food is often portable, so you can take it on the go. And, you know, there's certain stuff that is pretty universally liked. If you're the only place to get hot food within 30 miles, you can't take a chance on, you know, samosas, for instance, right? You gotta be, you gotta be slinging fried chicken, you know, barbecue, burgers, etc. But, you know, it's all, it's all pretty good. And then I would say, oh, say that's different when you go to cities. You know, if you're in Birmingham, if you're in Atlanta, if you're in New Orleans, then you do see up and coming chefs, you know, these are spaces that are low barrier entry, you know, it's not that expensive to pop up your new restaurant concept if you're a young chef in the back of a gas station, so you do see people, you know, taking chances in these spaces in bigger cities. Yeah, listen to an interview you had had in the past about this and you had talked about how in rural areas that we all come together, even if people are segregated by race or neighborhood or income level or something like that, we all see each other at these same places. And oddly enough, that may not be true in a city. We are more inclusive in the country when we go to eat than when somebody is in the big city. Yeah, I mean, you know, all over the world, we found ourselves self-segregating by way of our interest and religion and how much money we make and what our family does. And yet, everybody still passes through gas stations, especially in the South. We are a car-centric culture. Everybody's passing through this space on almost daily basis. You know, we, we are literally rubbing elbows with one another when we're sitting at these lunch counters, passing the ketchup, passing the salt and pepper, you know, it's really unique in this day and age to find a space that is so little de-democratic, you know, that everyone passes through. I think it's, I think it's pretty rare and pretty awesome. And I do like that you've, you've gone through and done the legwork for us. So, of course, I will lead me to this. I am, and I'm telling you, I have all the foods probably that are served at these places I'm into, but number one on my list, I am a fool for fried chicken. I love fried chicken. Well, you're a lot. Like a, like a, like, it's a, it's a problem. I love fried chicken that much. So, so give me some of the car with me. Yes. Well, I want to. So tell me, I mean, so as you ranked your list here, is there any, you know, rankings of these places to go get chicken or other items? Did you, or does that get you in trouble to rank the places? I can see a little bit of trouble. Okay. So let me just back up and say the premise of the book I'm not suggesting that this is the best gas station food in the south. Nobody gets, like, the number one slot. All right. This is a way, this is, I'm using this as sort of a lens as a way to study the south and see who's living here and how the, how the populations, priorities are shifting. We are certainly celebrating all the food that is served here. You mentioned the fried chicken. I mean, I'm also thinking about there's a place in New Orleans that's owned by a Vietnamese guy named Peter Wynn. He's serving Cajun shrimp bong knees in the back of a, Texaco. Okay. I live in North Carolina. There's a great place in Greensboro that called St. Louis Shabours, the sort of Senate believes foods. We're talking like a spicy ochre stew in the back of a Circle K. Closer to you guys in Florida. We have J.R. is a Silla River store right there on the river where he's taking people out alligator hunting and then bringing back the catch and frying up alligator 12 different ways. 12, 12 ways. So yes, lots of fried chicken, but that is just, you know, lots of fried chicken, lots of oil peanuts, thank goodness. But that is just okay. Okay. Listen, we have, then you roll into oil peanuts, but before we get into oil peanuts here, and I want to talk about that, you, you, I was reading on your website too. You talk about pulling over for the different fried fish. So right next to fried chicken, fried catfish is one of my favorites, but then something that I picked up a taste for by the time I've spent over the years in the Mississippi Delta from, from, from, from Roland Fork to Greenwood to, to, to Greens up to Greenville, tamales. I had never come out mobile boy, a mobile boy until the 90s. I had never really had tamales, I had around some Mexican folks, but never had it. And then I get to the Delta. I'm like, what the heck? I'm in the day, Mississippi Delta. And everybody's got tamales. What's the story there? I thought, I thought you were headed toward a Kool-Aid tickle, but then you took a right turn toward a tamale. Yeah, I like that. All right, so Mississippi Delta. Yeah, I mean, that's one of the few places. Well, the Mississippi Delta has sort of created its own, its signature variety of tamales. And again, if you go back to the original criteria, we're talking about food that is inexpensive, that is hot, that is portable, because many of the people passing through this, you know, they are on their way to work. They're on their way somewhere. And so you got to be able to take it to go. And this tamale perfectly wrapped in this corn cost or grape leaf, you know, and it is inexpensive and delicious. And so at that, you know, Mississippi Delta really has a corner on that market. I always wondered that how it, the tamale edged its way in to be in right there alongside the fried catfish, fried chicken, the okra, you know, Yeah. So, you know, we're talking about how populations are shifting throughout the South. And so I think the going theory is that, you know, Latino farm workers coming into Mississippi, helping seasonally, you know, brought this tradition of the tamales. And then it sort of shaped shifted over the years to, you know, it's not a traditional Mexican smalley or Latin American smalley. They're a little bit different in the Mississippi Delta. But, you know, when you look at this book of photographs that I made, that I have made, you see, you know, you see traditional southern foods, you see barbecue, you see the potato logs. But you also see how we as a region are changing because that's reflected in the food. So you're seeing the tamales, you're seeing the takarias, you're seeing the bongmi shops. And I think, I think that's really the three lines of the book that southern food is not what it, southern food is not only what it was 50 years ago. You know, it's not just the macaroni and cheese. It's not what people write about and think about often. It is much more global these days. That's for sure. Although I wouldn't bring it back home. And if y'all will go look at Kate's website on the page here about the book, the shot here you have of a brick wall painted with all kind of advertising for this place. All I know is the prefix for the cell number here is a two five one. And you got my attention there because we're in the two five one here in South Alabama. What did you check out here in our area? Yeah, so I spent a little bit of time in the mobile area specifically made a couple stops and pritured. The pritured community was super welcoming to me. I started at the starch down which is serving a soul food menu. And it was now starch down is now only a restaurant. In its previous iteration of dry cleaner. And before that, the gas station. But yeah, they are man, they are just killing it. I specifically visited with a guy named Big White is the cook at the starch down and pritured. In case shout out Big White, shout out to Big White. Big White's real proud of his stupid fries, which you know, was a specialty that I wasn't familiar with. He says it's a lower Alabama thing. Fries topped with chicken, ranch, honey mustard, onions, bell peppers, hot sauce, delicious. And then Big White and his friends sent me around the corner to Fred Eaton and Fred Eaton service station and pritured. It's been around since the early 60s. These are all African American places and pritured. Fred opened it with six of his brothers in the 60s. It remains to this day full service, passionately enterprise. And yeah, Fred Eaton is less of a place to go have lunch. You know, he might have some peanuts and some bottled water around, but it's really more of this community gathering place. So when I was there, for instance, the his preacher was sitting out front with them. They were talking about church things the week before. They had hosted a boating drive to get people to sign up to vote. You know, this is really like just the centerpiece of pritured. Everybody's passing through Fred Eaton. So those are really true of the standout area. And you said that's in Mobile County. And then you also said you were over in Alberta as well. I made a stop in Alberta. I think it was called the Alberta grocery store. Yeah, Alberta grocery, but it's also a gas station. I think it's the only grocery store in Alberta. Don't quit me on this. But yeah, Alberta, you're filling up your tank. You also have a full butcher shop operation. And then the cashier at the Alberta grocery was a woman of Indian descent. And if they had for a long time had this sort of fried chicken burger, chicken fenders, state of law, mini, but this woman who's the cashier was bringing some of her Indian food into the mini. And so there was like one day a week that she started, she's from Gujarat, India, and she started cooking her Indian food every Monday. I hope she's still doing that. Maybe one of your listeners can still live. Okay. But Alberta was definitely worth a drive. Excellent. You know, I think you look at it too. You can come from any culture around the world. If you're cooking country food, right from that place, whether you're from India or you're from Latin America or whatever, you're the same kind of portable meritocracy based food that live there will succeed in the United States. You know, it's something that's good and portable. Yep. And that's it. That's it. There you go. Oh, by the way, we got that. So if you go, hey, Kate, if you go for another book here, Ashley and Lucille Mississippi just texted and said, in Natchez at the gas station, we had tamales and glazed donuts. One of the best meals I've ever had. Down. Thank you, Ashley. Glazed donuts and tamales. Now, that's where else can you get that, right? That's a combo out there. Yeah. And people are talking big time about big white, big whites, wings on Wilson Avenue and the stupid fries are so delicious. I shame on me for not having had stupid fries before there. Same on you. There is time. There is time maybe this afternoon to go make that happen. And I mentioned carve out some nap time. Yeah, we exactly walk out in the car, lean the seat back and go to sleep. You mentioned peanuts before we wrap up, too. So love boiled peanuts. Although I sometimes see like they just poured in a can of, you know, stuff from the store. But did you notice that some places had better boiled peanuts than others? Did you have some that stepped up to the next level? Oh, yeah. You want to get your boiled peanuts from the gas stations that have a full kitchen. So, you know, I can't remember the name of it, but there's a chain. There's like a brand of boiled peanuts that has been cropping up because we all love them, right? And those will do in a pinch. But when you can find a full service restaurant, gas station, that is serving boiled peanuts. And they have that like 100 gallon steel pot in the back. And they've got that huge wooden ladle that they're stirring it with. Those are the boiled peanuts that you're after. That's where you got to stock up. Yeah. I mean, if you're just in a pinch, you're right. If I see that you empty down the same can that I get from the grocery store and put it in there, he did up maybe three. That's okay. But I want some that have some flavors in them. I want to see like the seasoning things sitting over there in a little, you know, plastic tray over there where you've been shaking it on. And yeah, that's what some of that Cajun seasoning also. I mean, that goes a long way for sure. We are kindred spirits. People want to check out the book. How do they get your book? So, thank you. Please come again. You can find it by way of my website, which is my name, Kate medley.com, or my publisher, The Bitter Southerner. And it's in independent bookstores across the south. Okay. Y'all just strolling through the website. I'm already hungry. And then this conversation said it to the next level. So Kate, yeah, I think we'll have to have another edition of the book out and let be riding backseat here and try out some of this stuff. All right. Good stuff. Keep all the keep all the recommendations coming. All right. Y'all do that and tell you what you got. And there are coming in. I will pass those along to Kate and we'll get them into the next book. Kate, thanks for your time and hopefully come back and see you soon. I'll do it. Thank you so much. All right. There she goes. Kate medley and we're coming right back more Midday Mobile on FM Talk 106 five. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 106 five. Like 127 FM Talk 106 five and Midday Mobile. Are you hungry now? I am. Yeah. So by tamales that you would think I would have found those somewhere else or developed my taste form somewhere other than Mississippi Delta, but that would be inaccurate. That's where I got that in the being a fan of tamales. And now, you know, can't let it go. And I cannot believe it yet. So I need to go if we want a road trip here to go to a Big White's Wings on Wilson Avenue and the stupid fries. That sounds like a mission. And if I don't know if Chew is listening, if Stu is listening from Sip and Chew, can you give me a review on that? Or can we review that on the on Sip and Chew on Sunday? Some more people. Let's see. Aidan. Stafford Shurden, YouTube gas station food in the southeast. Is it like, is that somebody subscribed to Aidan to follow? Yeah, the potato logs thing. I think the potato log game has come down a lot of places where I used to really love the potato logs because I mean, that was so you get fried chicken, you get potato logs, and then if potato logs are great, then I'll go with the rice and gravy on that and the fried catfish. This is, but yeah, the fact that what she was saying, you do see like the fusion of different, you know, different cultures at the gas station, but it's truly a food meritocracy because it's not about the setting. It's not about that, you know, it's it's not like, wow, the atmosphere here. No, it's the food good. Is it consistent? Can you get it pretty fast and get back to work? Good stuff. Hey, I want to throw this in the mix. We'll come back and talk more about this story. Voice of America had this up and it probably will be getting traction elsewhere soon, but it's all this headline says exclusive. U.S. confirms Iran will run absentee ballot stations in the United States. Maybe I'll slow down again here. United States confirms Iran, you know, Iran, Iran, like Iran, that Iran out will run absentee ballot stations in the U.S. So there'll be Iranian citizens voting in their election to replace the president at Raisi, but they'll be doing it right inside the United States. Yeah, left me a little slack job too. That story and a lot more on the way next.