Browsing: Food & Dining

It is officially fall, and that means it’s almost time to get the jambalaya pot out again!

In Mississippi, food is more than a necessity—it’s culture, memory, and connection all rolled into one. Whether it’s a family gathered around the Sunday dinner table, neighbors sharing a plate of fried catfish, or college students swapping stories over a late-night po-boy, our meals carry meaning. Few restaurants capture that spirit better than Oby’s, a Mississippi-grown favorite with a story that stretches from Pearl Harbor to Starkville.

Is there a more comforting food than dumplings? I grew up on chicken and dumplings, usually made from a left over roasted chicken and my moms amazing AP flour and water dumplings (simple combine flour and water until thick, then form into small balls). Sauté mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery) in olive oil, well-seasoned with red pepper flakes until tender. Debone a roasted chicken (add the bones, not the meat) and chicken stock to a large pot to cover, and simmer for an hour (or more). Remove the bones and add the meat, taste and re-season as necessary. Add the small dumplings and simmer until done. That’s it! It’s about as simple as it gets and is so delicious and comforting, but there are plenty of other options a well.

I have talked to a lot of people over the years who insist that they don’t like grits. It usually means all they have ever had are white grits (which are pretty grim) or they simply have never had well prepared yellow grits.

I have been craving a good vegetable soup lately, seems just right for very hot and humid mid-summer in Mississippi. I thought about a beef, or a chicken stew, but I have a hard time facing meat this time of the year, it’s just too heavy. This weather demands something light, but delicious. 

There’s nothing quite like fresh Gulf seafood—plump shrimp, sweet oysters, flaky fish—when it’s cooked just right. But even here on the Mississippi Coast, where the bounty of the Gulf is at our doorstep, it’s surprisingly easy to get it wrong. The two most common mistakes? Buying old seafood and overcooking it.

Can you imagine a diet with no Italian red sauce, or tomato sandwiches? What about no French fries, guacamole, corn on the cob, or sweet potato pie? That’s what food in Europe was like before the Europeans found the Americas. The Europeans did have cabbage, onions, peas, broad beans, greens and carrots, grapes, apples, pears, raspberries, and currents, but the addition of New World foods would be perhaps the biggest change in European diets ever, in fact, it was a culinary revolution. 

I can’t think of anything better than a bowl of gazpacho. It’s cool and refreshing, and perfect this time of the year when the farmers’ markets are full of delicious, still warm from the sun, vine ripe tomatoes.

Mississippi is no stranger to delicious food. The Magnolia State is known for its impeccable cuisine, and no matter how much of it you try, there are always more wonderful options available. Just when you think you’ve seen (or eaten) it all, you’ll stumble into a town you’ve never heard of and eat the best catfish or peach cobbler of your life. In Mississippi, food isn’t just food. It’s a story, a legacy, and a tight warm hug plated to perfection. 

I am not sure I can think of anything better than a fully dressed po-boy. There is just something magical about this sandwich style. In other parts of the country, they are called sliders, subs, hoagies, Cubans or torpedoes, but a po-boy is a Gulf Coast classic. 

Sunday supper at my house was a cherished tradition until Covid turned everything upside down. But I am determined to bring it back and maybe even do a better job of it this time around. It’s not something you want to just dive into; you’ve got to be smart about it to get it right. The secret to getting it right is detailed planning, and luckily for me, I enjoy thinking about those kinds of details.

What could be better in the morning than hot biscuits, just out of the oven, with lots of good butter? There are a lot of variations to this Southern classic and one of my favorites is biscuits, fried spicy sausage patty and fig preserves. It’s one of my all time favorites.

Chef Jon “JD” Davis of City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi, claimed the title of 2025 King of Mississippi Seafood.  

Each year, states across the nation host their seafood cook-offs, and the winners from each state travel to New Orleans in August for The Great American Seafood Cook-Off. Mississippi Seafood hosts its statewide contest each year in Gulfport, Mississippi. 

I am a big fan of Greek food, its spicy, hearty and bold and so I was delighted with the Acropolis Greek restaurant recently opened in Biloxi on Howard Avenue. Many years ago, I used to go to a Greek place run by an older Greek lady who became upset if you didn’t finish everything on your plate. She would sit at your table and question you about what you didn’t like. It was a good incentive to come with a big appetite.

Until I moved to the Gulf Coast in 1992, hot sauce was just not a part of my culinary world. In fact, there was almost nothing spicy in my diet, and I thought a jalapeno pepper was about as hot as it got. Silly me. The Coast really does have its own culinary micro food culture, from po-boys to gumbo, and hot sauce is a big part of it.

Pizza has to be one of the most popular foods in the world. It can be found from Japan to Russia and Mexico. Flatbread, its forbearer, originated in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, so it’s been around for a very long time in one form or another. It’s hard to find a county where people don’t just love modern pizza. Believe it or not, it came to us from a poor Jewish community in southern Italy