Bianca Phillips - Cookin Crunk: Eating Vegan in the Dirty South

COOKIN
CRUNK BIANCA PHILLIPS EATIN VEGAN IN THE DIRTY SOUTH Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Phillips, Bianca. Cookin crunk : eatin vegan in the Dirty South / by Bianca Phillips. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-57067-268-2 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-57067-925-4 (e-book) 1.

Vegan cooking. 2. Cooking, AmericanSouthern style. I. Title. is a member of Green Press Initiative. is a member of Green Press Initiative.

We chose to print this title on paper with postconsumer recycled content, processed without chlorine, which saved the following natural resources: 41 trees 1,202 pounds of solid waste 18,995 gallons of wastewater 4,203 pounds of greenhouse gases 17 million BTUs of total energy For more information, visit greenpressinitiative.org. Paper calculations from Environmental Defense Paper Calculator, edf.org/papercalculator. 2012 Bianca Phillips Color photos 2012 Book Publishing Company Other photos 123RF All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, except for brief quotations in reviews, without written permission from the publisher.

I must admit that I get pretty crunk about cooking simple recipes handed down by generations of great Southern cooks. Crunk is about passion. Its about having pride in where you come from. Its about creating no-frills, no-nonsense dishes that warm the soul and keep rich Southern traditions alive. Thats exactly what I aim to do in this book. I grew up in northeast Arkansas and transplanted myself about sixty miles south to Memphis only weeks after finishing college at Arkansas State University.

Ive never lived more than an hour from the banks of the muddy Mississippi Riverthe iconic waterway that defines the deep-down Dirty South. For the record, the South isnt really all that dirty. Its certainly no dirtier than any other place in the world. But the phrase Dirty South doesnt have much to do with dirt in the physical form. It has more to do with keepin it real. Southerners never stray far from tradition.

We tend to do what our mamas did and what our grandmamas did before them. To live in the Dirty South means drinking sweet tea on wraparound porches. It means getting lost in the beautiful song of cicadas on humid summer nights. It means crumblin homemade cornbread into a lovingly prepared bowl of soup beans, or drippin watermelon juice down your chin as you take the first bite of a ripe summer melon. First on my Vegan Crunk blog and now in this book, I aim to keep the rich and passionate cooking culture of the Dirty South alive by removing the meat, eggs, and dairy products from classic family recipes that have been handed down for generations. Being vegan shouldnt preclude anyone from enjoying soul food.

In fact, because the recipes in this book dont contain meat and other animal products, eating them will enrich your souland save animals lives in the process. Acknowledgments This book wouldnt have been possible without the support, recipe contributions, and inspiration from two amazingly strong womenDelories Phillips (my mama) and Ruth Phillips (my granny). I began following my mama around in the kitchen when I was just a little girl, and I owe my culinary inclination to her influence. I used to tease her when she read cookbooks at night the way most people read novels. Now I do the same thing. When I went vegetarian at age fourteen and vegan at age twenty-four, my mama patiently tweaked her family recipes to be free of meat, eggs, and dairy.

Theres no kinder or gentler soul in the world than my mama. Then theres Granny (my daddys mama). Through her delicious, soul-warming country cookin, she taught me to appreciate the rich food culture of my Southern roots. When Granny heard I was working on a Southern vegan cookbook, she quickly learned how to create delicious dairy-free, egg-free desserts and entres from her repertoire of family recipes. Not only did she spend countless hours creating recipes for this book, she also suggested plenty of Southern dishes and meals for me to veganize. Special gratitude is owed to David Phillips (my daddy) for being a relentless supporter of my cookbook project and the Vegan Crunk blog that inspired this book; to my me-maw (my mamas mama), who, despite her disdain for cooking, was an appreciative taste tester at many family meals; and to my pa (my daddys father), who sampled most all of Grannys veganized creations (probably without even realizing the dishes were vegan).

Also, thanks to my partner, Paul Dillard, a relentless promoter, for pushing my blog and cookbook project to everyone who would listen; to my best friend, Sheridan Essman, who went vegetarian (and later vegan) after reading about animal suffering and subsequently tested numerous recipes on her friends and coworkers; to Stephanie Roy, the best vegan baker in the world, for testing recipes and offering baking advice when my experiments failed; and to my friend Wes, an old-school Southern cook, who introduced me to hominy and fried cucumbers. Finally, Id like to thank the talented testers and blogger friends whose advice was critical in perfecting the recipes contained in these pages: Alison, Breedale, Carol, Carrie, Chelsea, Colette, Courtney, Deborah, Happyface Jessy, Jennifer Molica, Jenn Lynskey, Karen Lucchesi, Laura from Peace By Pastries, Leslie Coleman, Lindsay In-galls, Megan Duke, Miss V, Nora Kuby, Paula, Pink-Haired Cyn, Radioactive Vegan, River Bounds, Ryan, Trinity, VeggieLow, and Wetland Susie. Introduction For generations, meat and other animal products have characterized the cuisine of the American South. Besides serving up main courses of fried chicken, pulled pork barbecue, and crawfish, old-time Southern cooks often flavor their veggies with bacon fat and lard. Ugh. But you wont find any ham hocks in these collard greens.