For several years now, Alabama Chanin has drawn ideals from the Slow Food movement (Slow Design is rooted in the tenets of the movement)—a philosophy we share with Blackberry Farm. We are currently featuring some of their goods and recipes on our café menu and are excited to be holding a Weekend Away Workshop there this June.

A few years ago, Sam Beall, proprietor of Blackberry Farm, wrote a cookbook that he hoped would reflect what he and others involved at Blackberry Farm experience every day and that would inspire readers to not only enjoy the recipes born from the Farm but encourage them to “savor [their] own region, meal by meal.”

The Blackberry Farm Cookbook is a celebration of life in the “blue mists of the Great Smoky Mountains,” combining the sights, sounds, folk history, and characters of that corner of the world with recipes that reflect “not only a way to approach dinner [but] a way to approach life, grounded in what is, eyes wide open to what could be.”

Filled with recipes ranging from classic Blackberry Farm Biscuits and Spring Greens to robust dishes such as a Chili-Cured, Batter-Fried Chicken, the cookbook certainly delivers on its promise of “Four Seasons of Great Food and the Good Life.” Divided season by season, it reads like the Appalachian version of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, finding tangents in threads of local lore, then coming back to offer up practical advice on seasonal dishes for the casual home cook and host alike.

The book presents inviting spreads of thoughtful cuisine and beautiful images from a slower – but not-yet-forgotten – way of life.