anthony: right. geno: when my great grandfather started getting the pig ears, the local butcher was giving it to him because he was just throwing them away. anthony: it s everything, you know, we love about bacon the texture, the mix of fatty, lean, all that. oh, that s good. mm. man! that is just hard to beat. geno: isn t it good? anthony: mm-hmm. geno: it s a good sandwich. anthony: and, of course, some hot tamales. which, at this point in history, are about as mississippi as they are mexican. like the blues, they came out of mississippi in the early 20th century, as mexican migrant workers came in to replace african-americans who were headed to work in the great factories and stock yards of chicago and detroit. john t. edge: you know, sitting down here, um, eating tamales, we can sketch a history of mississippi. and that s kind of what i m most interested in doing. helping southerners understand that their foods are as african as they are western european. and
great example. anthony: yeah. bill griffith: in his in his riding habit. that s a great example. you do get to a certain level of success, and all of a sudden, this seems like a good idea. and it s never a good idea at that age. anthony: at any age, really. bill griffith: exactly. anthony: was he politically active at all? i mean, there was a lot going on. bill griffith: he s a middle-of-the-road democrat. that s what he said. he said you have to bring black education up with white education. and since the state of mississippi will not invest in black education, it s up to its citizens to do so. he said that segregation wasn t about being right or wrong, he said any sane, sober southerner knows that it s wrong. it s about wanting to change or not. but people don t want to give up power. fear is still alive and well in mississippi. i think racism is one of those great things in the world that you ll never solve and that s why faulkner wrote about it. anthony: writers, as
anthony: oh, excellent. so greens willie simmons: turnip greens. anthony: i ll have some of that for sure. is that fried okra there? i ll have a little of that. i might need more than one plate at this rate. uh, let me get some mac n cheese. what s that, lima beans? the red bean, oh man, that looks kinda good too. yeah, a little bit of that. neck bones floating around somewhere? woman: they are, they re right here. anthony: okay, yeah i ll have some of those. little rice and gravy on there, yeah thanks. and uh, oh i dunno, a piece of fried chicken there, if you got a thigh that would be great. john t. edge: okra s perfect. anthony: yeah it is. oh man, that s good. willie simmons: now here in the south if you want to, you can throw your fork away and just grab the neck bone. anthony: oh yeah, i ll be working on that. once willie simmons: we forgive you and don t hold it against you for doing it. anthony: i could eat this okra all day long, man. it s good.
miles or almost 4.5 million acres. this area used to look very different. massive, wild, old wood forests and swamps. after the passage of the cheerful sounding native removal act of 1830, the delta became open for settlement by any white people crazy enough, hearty enough, determined enough, or just plain mean and greedy enough to come here. julia reed: there s no way to make up for our bad racial past, but you do, you know, the sense of community that keeps people here is evidenced in this place. anthony: julia reed is greenville born and raised. the daughter of a political family. a writer, author, and as delta as it gets. how long you been in the city? john currence: 22 years. i came in 1992. anthony: john currence is a celebrated chef, who had left
kids are buggin out of brown university to come sit at the foot of an ancient bluesman in mississippi. there s a cyclical pattern to that. now, you know, you see people kinda doing the same thing with food, like there s a whole generation that wants to come down here and sit at the foot of an ancient catfish cook. anthony: state senator willie simmons has been an elected official of the mississippi delta for 20 years. and he s been running this place, senator s place, for 11. now what s the difference between soul food and southern, traditional southern food? willie simmons: it depends upon the culture. and what neighborhood you was in. if you were in the black neighborhood, then it became soul. we probably put a little bit more of the throwaway in our cooking the pig feet, the pigtail, the neck bones, and all that s fatty. anthony: now you re making me hungry. now you are definitely making me willie simmons: we got some neck bones over there, okay.