The Oxford American: Southern Food 2010 arrived while I was traveling and I am breathless to devour the issue this weekend in the sunshine and at my own kitchen table.

I will move seamlessly from John Kessler’s “Tale of Two Cities” to Dian Robert’s “People of the Cake” while sipping a tea and listening to Maggie talk to her “babies” in her room.

Get your copy and start with this great article from Matt & Ted Lee on the OA website: Matt and Ted Lee on the Next Big (but Tiny!) Southern Ingredient

I adore benne in all its forms.

There is a place set at the table of heaven for Glenn Roberts, Merle Shepard and Professor David Shields.

From Professor Shields:

“Nineteenth-century plant breeders tended to breed for taste—the vegetables they produced were vetted strongly for palatability,” Shields says. “In the twentieth century, they’re more concerned with transportability, shelf life, eye-appeal. What interests me is trying to recover the vegetables and grains from the nineteenth century that were known to be linchpins of the American table.”

If you have any good benne recipes, please share them with us in the comments!

Bon Appetit and see you on Monday!