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D4 | Saturday/Sunday, October 18 - 19, 2014 * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

ADVENTURE & TRAVEL

EatYourWayThroughAppalachiaSkip the fried-squirrel jokes—this could be the next big dining destination. And a multistate road trip is the way to experience it

G ROWING UP in theheart of Appalachia—specifically, the Ken-tucky coal-mining townof Hazard—my friend

Travis Fugate had little variety in hiscuisine. Pinto beans, unsweetenedcornbread and fried cabbage werestaples. At a young age, he knew hewanted more flavor, diversity and ex-citement in his meals.

He eventually found that else-where, but it turns out he didn’tneed to leave Appalachia to do so.The region, which covers parts of12 states between New York and Mis-sissippi (plus all of West Virginia)isn’t just a major source of coal; it’sone of the most agriculturally abun-dant areas in the U.S. Everythingfrom rhubarb to ramps grows there,and farming, canning and picklingare important aspects of the localfood heritage.

The mountainous terrain that gaverise to so much bounty—and createda distinct culture and dialect (the“hollow” where Travis grew upsounds to me like “holler”)—has alsokept the region geographically iso-lated and in many ways, lagging be-hind nationally. Appalachia continuesto rank low in terms of income, em-ployment, education and health. Tra-ditional dishes reflect some of thosechallenges: Soup beans, made fromdried legumes and a bit of pork forflavoring, is cheap to make; stackcake is said to have originated withfriends and family contributing lay-ers to build a wedding cake, whichwould otherwise have been prohibi-tively expensive.

Only in recent years have chefsbegun to recognize and riff on thisrich heritage. And a new initiative bythe Appalachian Regional Commis-sion, an economic developmentagency, aims to promote it. The BonAppétit! Bon Appalachia! map andwebsite, launched this summer, spot-light hundreds of the region’s mostdistinctive food destinations, fromfarmers’ markets to craft breweriesto cafes that serve locally sourcedberries and beets. On the list arespots like the SustainFloyd FarmersMarket in the funky town of Floyd,Va., off the Blue Ridge Parkway; anda small, legal moonshine operation inGilbert, a hardscrabble blip of a townin the coalfields of West Virginia.

I had many of the same precon-ceptions a lot of people do about Ap-palachian fare (lots of fried food, theoccasional squirrel) and had neverconsidered visiting this part of thecountry to eat. But the more I stud-ied the map, the more intrigued Iwas by all of the farm-to-table res-taurants in off-the-tourist-trackplaces. Travis—who shares my loveof bluegrass music and culinary ad-ventures—was in Kentucky for thesummer, and agreed that a road tripwas in order.

We sketched out a four-dayitinerary through the heart of Appa-lachia—West Virginia, Kentucky,Virginia and North Carolina—andchose a dozen spots to visit, a fewin each town. I dreaded the hoursof mountain driving, but at least itwould give our stomachs a respitebetween meals.

One Friday morning in August, weloaded our dogs into the car andheaded west from Washington, D.C.,into the mountains. Four and a halfhours later, we’d reached our firststop, Lewisburg, W.V. Just 10 milesfrom the famous Greenbrier resort,the town didn’t seem to suffer fromthe economic blight that affectsmuch of the region. We walkedpast bakeries, boutiques and artgalleries, and grabbed the last openlunch table at a decade-old bistrocalled Stardust Café.

Giant paper lanterns hung fromthe ceiling, and a note on the menusuggested that “slow food” mightmean leisurely delivery as well assustainable sourcing of ingredients.We shared a locally grown greensalad topped with plump tomatoesthat tasted fresh off the vine, and afat, juicy burger, made from locallyraised, grass-fed beef and embel-lished with avocado. I was glad to

have made an exception for theburger in my largely vegetarian diet.

I’d asked Jennifer “Tootie” Jones,who raised the cow that became ourburger, to join us—her Swift LevelFarm is just 4 miles away from therestaurant. After lunch, we followedher to the farm, where she raisessome 75 head of cattle and hostscookouts and weddings. Sugar ma-ples and oaks lined the windingdriveway, and black and brown An-gus cattle dotted the hilly pastures.Showing us around, Ms. Jones saidshe hoped that the new tourism ini-tiative would help educate folks—notjust about Appalachia, but aboutwhere their food comes from.

As we drove west on Interstate64 toward Charleston, we crossedthe New River, popular with white-water kayakers and rafters. Travismused that he should find a bride sothey could marry at Ms. Jones’s sto-rybook farm, but our conversationnever strayed far from food. He re-called sitting on the porch with hisgrandmother, breaking green beansfor canning, and rushing to see whatremained in his father’s blackenedlunch box after a day at the mine.Many people in his hometown wouldbe hard-pressed to even afford ameal at Stardust, he observed.

We continued westward, and justbefore dinner arrived in Charleston,a riverfront city of 50,000 that com-bines the splendor of a gold capitoldome with the grittiness of its indus-trial past. After walking the dogsaround the capitol building, we droveup the street to Bluegrass Kitchen,which specializes in high-end com-fort food. The city’s East End wasstarkly different from Lewisburg;

abandoned storefronts and emptylots stretched along the main street.We sat in the corner of a large din-ing room with exposed-brick wallsand a pressed tin ceiling. And then,we over-ordered. Our table was sooncovered with dishes: tomatoesstuffed with quinoa, squash, peppersand feta; a version of Hoppin’ John,the traditional Southern stew, withblack-eyed peas and Swiss chard; anda trout and grits dish with kale andbourbon-mustard-dill sauce.

The portions were better suitedto people who’d spent the day doingmanual labor, but we couldn’t resistfinishing the meal off with blueberrybuttermilk pie. Patrons at the nexttable offered advice on local spots.One suggestion was Taylor Books,a high-ceilinged indie bookstore onthe other side of town with a livelycoffee shop. We stopped there thenext morning and flipped throughhard-to-find books like “MountainMeasures: A Collection of WestVirginia Recipes” and “Folk Medicinein Southern Appalachia.” At CapitolMarket, the city’s indoor-outdoorfarmers market, we browsed giantbins of dried beans, fresh produce,Mason jars of jalapeno-pickledeggs and a regional relish called

chow-chow, made with cabbageand onions.

As we crisscrossed the spine ofthe Appalachian Mountains, wefound ourselves in the car for hoursat a time, but often had the road toourselves. We listened to bluegrassand country on WVOW radio,the “Voice of the Coalfields,” andfollowed handwritten signs forboiled peanuts. I marveled at thekudzu that blanketed trees andmountainsides.

Next up was Pikeville, Ky., a smallmountain town that Travis said hadspruced itself up since he’d last vis-ited. The whole population seemedto be downtown for Muscle on Main,a monthly classic-car show. The roarof drag racing accompanied our alfresco meal at the Blue Raven, whichserves “pub-style Appalachian cui-sine,” like a bone-in pork chop withcorn-muffin stuffing and bourbon-honey carrots. The owners grow pro-duce on a family farm. Travis’s gen-erously stuffed $3 short-rib biscuitappetizer turned out to be the bestvalue of the trip.

We spent the night in a lodge atJenny Wiley State Resort Park, leav-ing early the next morning. Cloudshung low among the mountains. Theroad heading southeast toward Vir-ginia curved like a Krazy Straw, andwe listened to Sunday bluegrass gos-pel on the radio. “This is the kind ofmusic we’d hear at church,” Travissaid. “But at night, the lyrics are allabout heartbreak and moonshinin’.”

In Abingdon, in southwestern Vir-ginia, we stopped for brunch atHeartwood, a center that showcasesthe area’s music, crafts and food andlooks like a massive, modern inter-

pretation of a barn and silo. Al-though Heartwood sometimes catersto busloads of tourists, the food atits restaurant—buttermilk biscuits,heirloom-tomato-and-beet salad withgoat cheese—tasted like it could havecome from a farmhouse kitchen.

Travis had gotten in the habit ofasking our servers where menu in-gredients were from. Some said,frankly, that they arrived on 18-wheelers. Others named local farms.But we weren’t prepared for HarvestTable, a homey, hardwood-flooredrestaurant in the little town of Mead-owview, Va., owned by author Bar-bara Kingsolver and her husband,Steven Hopp. The server—calling me“Honey”—said we should try theblueberry crisp and the carrot cake;she’d made the crisp, and the carrotscame from the owners’ nearby farm.

In Boone, N.C., a hippy-outdoorsytown, we imbibed at AppalachianBrewing Company and dined at HobNob Farm Café, a five-year-old res-taurant with a surprising number ofvegan options—like a tamale with lo-cal kale, portobellos, sweet potatoesand vegan crème fraîche. I opted forthe real-cheese, local-vegetable lasa-gna; Travis succumbed to the bacon-wrapped meatloaf.

Over the course of the trip, we’dseen coal towns struggling to rein-vent themselves and restaurantsstraining to be sustainable and prof-itable. We’d talked about the chal-lenge of providing healthy, tasty foodto less-than-affluent locals. It seemedfitting that our last stop was Boone’sF.A.R.M. (Feed All Regardless ofMeans) Café, a pay-what-you-cankitchen where you can buy a meal,trade volunteer hours for food or payextra so someone else can eat later.

We sat at the counter next to amaintenance worker from Appala-chian State University, who lunchesthere daily. The locally sourcedmeal—tomato soup, grilled cheese,green salad, potato salad, sautéedsquash and beans, and apple cob-bler—was served on a green cafete-ria tray and cost just $10.

“Tomorrow would be a good dayto eat here,” a bearded regular of-fered. “Tomato Pie Tuesday, withheirloom tomatoes and goat cheese.”We later saw him sitting out front,playing the mandolin for change.

We wanted to return, and to vol-unteer serving meals and washingdishes. But too soon, we were on theroad again, disentangling ourselvesfrom the embrace of the mountains,speeding along the straight lines ofthe interstate, savoring memories offresh kale and warm berry crisp.

BY MELANIE D.G. KAPLAN

DISH DASH Clockwisefrom top: The HighlandScenic Highway in WestVirginia; Bluegrass Kitchenin Charleston, W.V.; therestaurant’s tofu ‘wings.’

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THE LOWDOWN // A FOOD-FOCUSED ROAD TRIP IN APPALACHIA

Getting There: The Appalachian regionincludes West Virginia and parts of 12other states, and stretches from south-ern New York to northern Mississippi.Bon Appétit stops are scatteredthroughout the area. Keep in mind thatroutes through the mountains can bevery indirect.

Eating There: The Bon Appétit! BonAppalachia! interactive map and guideare available at visitappalachia.com.Some highlights around the region: Blue-

grass Kitchen in Charleston, W.V., servesupscale comfort food, and cocktails withhomemade garnishes, including pickledonions and ramps (1600 Washington St.E., bluegrasswv.com). In Meadowview,Va., Harvest Table sources everythingfrom within a 150-mile radius, includingseafood from the Carolina and Virginiacoasts (13180 Meadowview Square, har-vesttablerestaurant.com). F.A.R.M. Caféin Boone, N.C., is a pay-what-you-cancommunity kitchen that uses local ingre-dients (617 W. King St., farmcafe.org).

Staying There: Country Girl at HeartFarm Bed & Breakfast in Munford, Ky.,is an eco-friendly inn with a workingfarm (from $109 a night, bedandbreak-fastkentucky.net). The property’s refur-bished Amish farmhouse featuresskylights and organic cotton linens.At the Inn at Evins Mill, east of Nashvillein Smithville, Tenn., you can enjoy luxuryand mountain views, with creek-sideaccommodations and covered decks fur-nished with rocking chairs (from $290 anight, evinsmill.com).

Tomato soup, grilledcheese, green salad, potatosalad, sautéed squash andbeans, and apple cobblercost just $10.

VIRGINIAKENTUCKY

NORTHCAROLINA

WESTVIRGINIA

100 miles

Charleston

LewisburgPikeville

AbingdonBoone

Meadowview

A P P A L A C H I A

Source: AppalachianRegional Commission

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