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DEL.ICIO.USWhat do you want to eat when you dine out?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I recently went to a symposium at Emory University called “Artists & Critics.” It was a panel discussion on “food & cuisine” and featured a food writer, a dining critic and Watershed Executive Chef, Scott Peacock. For anyone who has not experienced Peacock’s food, you are missing not only a wonderful dining experience, but a communion with authentic southern cuisine.
Peacock described growing up in a tiny town in Alabama, learning to cook by watching his mother and grandmother. He detailed his journey from home cook to chef at the Georgia Governor’s mansion. He categorized his early gastronomic aspirations as wanting to produce “fancy food,” inspired by old TV sitcoms and movies. It wasn’t until he met Edna Lewis, The “Grande Dame” of southern cooking, that he embraced his culinary roots.
Now, he says, the biggest praise he can garner is when someone says, “This tastes just like my Mama made it.” His most rewarding moments are hearing that he captured a diner’s memories of the simple meals they grew up eating.
This made me wonder. When going out to dine, what do you look for? Do you want to be transported to a familiar place or do you want to travel, culinarily speaking, to someplace you have never been before?
P.S. Don’t miss the Food & Drink section next Thursday to learn Scott’s secrets for perfectly baked biscuits for Easter.Yum.
Photo: Scott Peacock with his pimento cheese using his mother’s recipe at Watershed, 5/30/07. (Louie Favorite / AJC)
Comments
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By tiffany
March 22, 2008 5:09 PM | Link to this
I tend to go for the adventure. Give me new tastes, new flavors and new combinations. Make me say “How the heck did you come up with that?” If I’m going to spend the money, I want to pay for something I can’t easily make at home.