"mark ellwood" news and stories

"It's not low, country food, it's all one word – lowcountry. It doesn't have anything to do with class structure - it's purely geographic," barks Nathalie Dupree as soon as she starts discussing her home turf's cuisine. Dupree should know: she's the author of a dozen or so books on the food of the region, the latest of which is "Nathalie Dupree's Shrimp and Grits". Gridding its reach on a map, she sketches from the Pee Dee River southwards, finishing with Savannah.

Another expert, Joe Dabney, quibbles slightly. "Savannah counts, but it came along a little later." Dabney is a longtime newspaperman with his own local cookbook, "The Food, Folklore and Art of Lowcountry Cooking," due in spring. "The heart of lowcountry cooking is in Charleston."

Certainly, it's thanks to Charleston and its history that lowcountry food has such eclectic, exotic roots. Firstly, that now-tony and toned-down city was the original colonial New York, a cosmopolitan metropolis seething with newcomers and defined by its tolerance. Charleston was one of the first colonial outposts to allow Jews to worship without persecution and the congregation is still one of the oldest in the USA. That openness encouraged unusual settlers.

"Everything came through Charleston – it was an elite community for so long. It had an extraordinary variety of people: there was an Italian bakery in town in the early 1600s that fed everyone. And they also planted olive trees there," Dupree explains. British techniques like roasting and stewing became staples, too – a nostalgic nod to the motherland with which Charleston, named after a British king as Charles town, felt such strong links.

British-born, New York-based freelance journalist Mark Ellwood has spent most of his life traveling the globe in pursuit of the finest fashion, furnishings and food. In this brand new series for Slashfood, he highlights the distinctive regional cuisines of his adopted country.

Photo: image415, flickr

Rhode Island is like a gourmet Galapagos, a tiny patch of water-hemmed land that's evolved a separate culture from its surroundings. There are state-specific brands like Del's Lemonade and Autocrat Coffee Syrup, Rhody recipes for jonnycakes and stuffies and even localized tweaks on American staples; only in Rhode Island could clear clam chowder come with an add-to-taste jug of heavy cream to placate visiting Bostonians.

Given locals' culinary passion, it's no wonder this is where the diner was invented by Walter Scott in 1872, who piled up a horse-drawn wagon with pies and sandwiches and stationed it in front of the Providence Journal offices.

How did the smallest state in the union -- barely 1,000 square miles of land -- develop such aggressive, idiosyncratic tastes? In part, thanks to its origins.

"We have this very independent spirit; it's historic, going right back to Williams," explains Linda Beaulieu, author of "The Providence and Rhode Island Cookbook." Indeed, Roger Williams founded the outpost as a rebellion against the Massachusetts Bay Colony's hardline conformism, and that rebellious independence has ricocheted down through Rhode Island's history -- and menus. "Chain restaurants don't do well here at all. In fact a year or two ago, the Red Lobster closed -- people just didn't support it."

Stuffies and quahogs, anyone? Explore more of Rhode Island's culinary offerings after the jump.