"Arkansas" news and stories

Cheese Dip Film Documents Arkansas' Defining Dish

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Oct 21st 2009 @ 11:00AM

A new documentary chronicling Arkansans' infatuation with cheese dip has inspired a surge of statewide pride in what might be the region's signature dish.

Since Nick Rogers' short film "In Queso Fever" was featured on the Oxford American's Web site this fall, he's been making the local talk show rounds, reminding fellow Arkansans that their beloved Velveeta and Ro-Tel delicacy isn't widely available beyond the state's borders.

"Everyone's just shocked that if they were to travel extensively throughout the U.S., they wouldn't be able to get cheese dip," says Rogers, who works as an attorney in Little Rock. "The reaction I get from everybody is we had no idea cheese dip wasn't such a big deal everywhere."

Cheese dip is such a big deal in Arkansas that the Arkansas Times includes a cheese dip category in its "best of" readers' poll – and regularly receives more votes in that category than any other. When Conway native Kris Allen was named as an "American Idol" finalist, his hometown Stoby's Restaurant awarded him free cheese dip for life -- a prize many Arkansans likely considered better than a record contract.

Filed under: Ingredients

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State Fair Food Vendors Lure Workers on Their Lunch Hours

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by Hanna Raskin, Posted Oct 14th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Mykl Rovertine, flickr.

Acknowledging that even motivated eaters are struggling to complete their fried food checklists during a single visit to the fair, an increasing number of state fairs are now offering free lunch passes to stimulate more sampling.

Arkansas this week joined Missouri and Memphis's Mid-South Fair in pushing a program that re-imagines the midway as a vast office cafeteria, with chocolate-dipped fried bacon and hot beef sundaes standing in for grilled cheese sandwiches and Jello salad. Arkansas State Fair spokesman Ralph Eubanks said "Lunch at the Fair," featuring free parking and admission on weekdays from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m, was created in response to clamorous customer demand.

"We've had several requests and we decided to try it," Eubanks says. "We're making it logistically possible to provide workers with a quick corn dog."

Eubanks concedes most folks who punch out for a quick trip to the fair are unlikely to stick to what he calls "the old standbys": There are 30 new items available at the fair this year, including a taco in a bag and chicken parmesan on a stick. "We just kind of hit the jackpot," Eubanks marvels.

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Southern Museum Pays Homage to 'Arkansas Cuisine'

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by Hanna Raskin, Posted Jul 21st 2009 @ 11:00AM

Is this Arkansan cuisine? Photo: Flickr / patrickwoodward

Arkansas has produced the world's largest spinach can, superior pink tomatoes and lauded bottled water, but its cooks have generated far less press than their counterparts in neighboring Southern states.

New Orleans' Southern Food and Beverage Museum is aiming to elevate the status of Arkansan eats with an upcoming exhibit devoted to the state's culinary traditions. As collections manager Chris Smith has discovered, however, Arkansas residents' edible habits aren't easily summarized.

"Arkansas is one of those states where the Northwest is different than the Southeast, and the Northeast is different than the Southwest," Smith says. "I don't think it has as much fried food as Louisiana, and I don't think it's as Mexican as Texas."

Smith is working to define Arkansas cuisine by relying largely on a massive collection of books submitted by sympathetic cooks after Hurricane Katrina destroyed a chunk of the museum's holdings.

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Waitress fired for political reasons

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by Shayna Glick, Posted Apr 29th 2008 @ 9:02AM

john McCain in a crowd with US flag behind them.

I was under the impression that you couldn't get fired for political views anymore. Apparently that was the reasoning behind a waitress being fired in Arkansas this week.

Michah Qualls says she was fired for her political views, but allowed to finish working the lunch shift before being let go. She used her personal break to hold up a pro Hilary Clinton sign along the route that John McCain used to roll through town.

The article was a little sketchy on details, so it's hard to say whether there weren't other circumstances that led up to her dismissal. If she was fired for her political views, I'm sure she has legal options. Still it's hard to imagine her boss actually saying that was the reason she was being let go.

What do you think about this?

Source

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Competitive eating upset

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by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Jan 21st 2006 @ 12:19PM

The outcome of last week's Hot Springs International Corned Beef Eating Championship have sent shockwaves through the competitive eating community, according to a recent release from the International Federation of Competitive Eating. The underdog victor of this Arkansas event was a young Chicago upstart named Patrick Bertoletti, who edged out veterans Sonya Thomas and Joey Chestnut by taking down 11 Oaklawn corned beef sandwiches in 10 minutes. Thomas and Chestnut, the second and third ranked competitive eaters in the world, tied with 10.75 sandwiches each and Chestnut eventually won second place in an overtime match. Bertolleti took home $3,000.

Filed under: Food Oddities, Ingredients

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