Growing up, I was always blessed to be fed well. A full belly and a smile, covered in chocolate or my grandma's homemade meringue.
"Sydney Jennings, get your butt in my kitchen right this instant and help me stir this stew. Your grandaddy is hungry and it's not gonna make itself."
If I heard that once in my life, I heard it a thousand times over. From my mom and my grandma, both of them wanting to instill in me the skills of fine, home-cooking and being intentional, whether with a wooden spoon in my hand or with the people in my life. A little backstory is most definitely needed, especially when it comes to food for me.
I grew up in the deep south. Well, technically north of Atlanta, but my family roots stem far south of the city. Where the cotton grew high, pecans fell in the summer evenings and the humidity took over your body in seconds, sending sweat from your temples to your toes.
My grandma was born on a farm in rural Georgia but quickly became a self-made woman. She married my grandfather and together, they started a restaurant in the small town where my mom learned to bake biscuits and ride her bike down backroads. The restaurant was called 'Chequers'. All homegrown and homemade food was served from morning till noon. It was the place to be in Newnan, the town of bustling southern commerce.
I can only imagine how lit up the town square.
So, when I, the first grandchild was born, my time in the highchair was short-lived. I was rolling biscuit dough and pan-frying fish before my third birthday. It was the time of my life. We made pound cake, barbequed ribs, shucked corn-on-the-cob, fresh lima beans, stewed collard greens, and Brunswick stew. All southern staples if you ask me.
It was in this time, laughing and bonding with my grandmother in her tiny, run-down kitchen that I understood she had it figured out. She got people. What they loved, how to make them smile and how to fill their tummies to get right to their hearts. Feeding people cups of vegetable soup and fresh cornbread, not out of obligation, but because she wanted to. Food had its way of bringing the most important people into her life, and that parlayed into mine as well.
She had built a life with my granddad. Together, working from the ground up to produce a name for themselves, together with love and their two daughters as the light and the way.
Now, it's been years since I've cooked alongside her. Her presence in the kitchen is marked on my heart and something that I will cherish and pass on. I want my children to feel what I felt. Love at the bottom of the bowl.
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BRUNSWICK STEW
From the kitchen of Beverly J. Parker
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 ½ cups BBQ sauce (used Bev's homemade BBQ)
2 to 3 cups of chicken broth
1-½ cups corn shucked & off the cob
1-½ cups fresh lima beans
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp black pepper
12 oz cooked chicken breast, chopped
1 lb pulled pork
Add all ingredients, in order, into a large pot or cast-iron skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Serves 8 - 10 people! Enjoy at a large dinner table with friends, family and a happy heart
Sydney Kuester
Sydney Kuester
