Casual Tradition in Tuscaloosa

April 23, 2016Leave a comment

Archibald’s

1211 Martin Luther King Blvd

Northport, AL 35476

In a small, almost shack-like house down Watermelon road lies a humble barbecue joint that you’d never notice if you hadn’t been told about it—but if you live in Tuscaloosa or Northport, you probably have. Archibald’s has been a Tuscaloosa staple since opening in 1962, with food so renowned that a photo of the original owner, George Archibald, hangs in the competing Jim n Nick’s Bar-B-Q. Today, Archibald’s is run by George Archibald Jr., but the style and recipes remain the same. In 2013, Archibald’s made #6 on USA Today’s list of “America’s Tastiest Ribs,” and it has been featured on ESPN, in Southern Living Magazine, and in the New York Times. The workers will happily remind you that Alabama legend Bear Bryant relied on Archibald’s for his barbecue needs. In fact, the entire establishment is a family affair. Two offshoots, both called Archibald & Woodrow’s, are also run by the family and offer more options, such as macaroni and cheese, hot wings, and catfish, but the original boasts all of the nostalgia and credibility of an Alabama classic. Continue reading →

Dilemma or Delinquent

April 20, 2016August 15, 2016Leave a comment

Delusional or Delinquent: The Delimma

“As a culture we seem to have arrived at a place where whatever native wisdom we may once have possessed about eating has been replaced by confusion and anxiety.” – Michael Pollan

Foooood… It’s beautiful, and it’s repulsive. It’s fragrant, and it’s putrid. It’s delicious, and it’s disgusting. It’s sweet and sour. It’s natural and artificial. It can save a life with its nutrients, but it can just as easily take one with its poison. The point is that food is currently thought of by our culture as an entitled commodity described by the visual attributes, scented aromas, and tasted textures. However, in reality, it serves only one purpose: energy. Continue reading →

Who’s Your Daddy?

April 16, 2016April 20, 2016Leave a comment

Big Daddy’s Mediterranean Grill and Hookah Cafe
514 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

One normally doesn’t go to Big Daddy’s for food. They go there for hookah. They might order cheese fries or hummus and pita to go along with their hookah, but food is not the normal priority when someone chooses to patronize this restaurant in particular. As one of the only hookah locations in Tuscaloosa, the draw is large with freshmen who have just reached the age of nineteen (not eighteen, thanks to Alabama’s laws) and are eager to try out a new “taboo.” But naive newcomers aside, Big Daddy’s has firmly established itself in its little cubby of Greensboro, squeezed between Icon, the local gay bar, and Chuck’s Fish, one of the more well-known (and accordingly pricier) restaurants for Tuscaloosans who want to feel sophisticated among their own. And there, anchored down in the middle lands, is Big Daddy’s. Continue reading →

Caring for the Future

April 15, 2016August 15, 2016Leave a comment

“Only by safeguarding Nature’s resilience can we hope to have a resilient form of food production and ensure food security in the long term.”

– Prince Charles of Wales

We’re at a weird place when it comes to food. Between the latest fad diets, sensationalized scientific reports, and media exposés – Americans are more aware of what they’re eating than ever before. Yet, this awareness is generally limited to personal matters: “Will this food make me fat?” or “Does this vitamin fight cancer or cause it?” We care very much about food on the small-scale, but simultaneously we might be missing the bigger picture, with potentially terrible consequences.

As Prince Charles states in his speech “On the Future of Food,” there is more to our relationship with food than our own bodily health. Our methods of food production and consumption affect the health of the planet itself. The methods of industrial agriculture work for the time being, but they lack sustainability; It is this short-sightedness that has Prince Charles worrying, “for the sake of your generation…It is your future that concerns me and that of your grandchildren, and theirs too.” And again and again, he addresses the problems we face now or will face in the not-too-distant future. Continue reading →