12/29/2025
From Bentonia to Wisconsin.
When I traveled to Bentonia, Mississippi for the 77th anniversary of the Blue Front Café, the oldest juke joint in Mississippi, I went to document a place and the people who gather there. What I didn’t expect was to be handed a recipe with full Southern soul and heart.
At the Blue Front, Cathy and Genevieve generously shared how they make their shrimp & grits. It wasn’t written down. And Larry, who has created such a special meeting place at the festivals, they have dedicated a special tree to him with a sign reading “Larry’s Tribe.”
I carried that recipe home with me and cooked it for the first time in Wisconsin in my parents’ kitchen, for the Christmas holiday, bringing a little bit of Southern soul and hospitality to the Midwest.
This story is about how food travels, and how music, meals, and kindness cross state lines.
I shared the full story here if you’d like to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhXqeMFgqJk&t=5s
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