I’m concerned about food having soul. Sometimes, in the hands of a seriously gifted cook, a simple head of cabbage can speak to you. How does that happen? Is it skill? Sure, but that’s not all of it. There’s something else there. Have you ever heard Wilson Pickett dig in to “Hey Jude” or Aretha Franklin sing “The Weight?” It’s soulful, dirty, greasy singing and it’s amazing. I’m driving for that feel with food.
I think about performances like Wilson Pickett or Aretha when I’m working on menus. In today’s restaurant world, it’s easy to get sucked in to the whirlwind of “who’s doing the hot new thing?” Sometimes, when I feel like we’re just trying too hard or maybe doing something different just for the sake of doing something different, I take a step back and listen to music. Am I digging in? Is this dish soulful? My goal is always to come back to the soul of the food and hit the root of it. The rest will take care of itself as long as there’s soul.
Corn fritters are a soulful food memory for me. I grew up watching my mom fry fritters on summer evenings. When she would turn her back, I would pull them from the paper towels and pop them straight in my mouth. There were evenings when only a couple of fritters made it to the dinner table because my dad and I were seasoned fritter thieves. Every time I mix drop those fritters in hot grease, I’m transported back to my parents’ kitchen.
I hope you have food memory that touches your soul, too. Try to take some time to cook that food for family, or just for yourself, while we all have some extra time on our hands. Remember the good times, and maybe make some new memories, while we wait for the world to get back to a place that looks a lot more familiar.
Andy Little is a two-time James Beard semi-finalist for Best Chef Southeast and is the chef at Josephine in Nashville.