Author Georgann Eubanks will read from her new book “The Month of Their Ripening: North Carolina Heritage Foods through the Year” at the Celo Inn on Sunday, November 4, at 3:00 p.m. She will be introduced by Abigail DeWitt, whose book “News of our Loved Ones” is just out as well. A portion of the book sales will go to Dig In!
Telling the stories of twelve North Carolina heritage foods, each matched to the month of its peak readiness for eating, Georgann Eubanks takes readers on a flavorful journey across the state. She begins in January with the most ephemeral of southern ingredients, snow. Her very first story is about a January day some years ago when, as a TRAC visiting artist teaching creative writing at East Yancey Middle School, she learned how mountain kids think about snow. (Maybe she’ll read that at the Celo Inn.) In March, she takes a midnight canoe ride on the Trent River in search of shad, a bony fish with a savory history. In November, she visits a Chatham County sawmill where the possums are always first into the persimmon trees.
Talking with farmers, fishmongers, cooks, historians, and scientists, Eubanks looks at how foods are deeply tied to the culture of the Old North State. Some have histories that go back thousands of years. Garlicky green ramps, gathered in April and traditionally savored by many Cherokee people, are now endangered by their popularity in fine restaurants. Oysters, though, are enjoying a comeback, cultivated by entrepreneurs along the coast in December. These foods, and the stories of the people who prepare and eat them, make up the long-standing dialect of North Carolina kitchens. But we have to wait for the right moment to enjoy them, and in that waiting is their treasure.
Georgann Eubanks is a writer, Emmy-winning documentarian, and popular speaker. She is the author of Literary Trails of Eastern North Carolina, Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont, and Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains.
There is no charge to attend the reading. Since seating at the Celo Inn is limited, please call 828-675-5132 to reserve a place. The Celo Inn is located just off Rt. 80 S at the corner of Seven Mile Ridge Road.
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