North Carolina travel guide - Wikitravel

For more on the bakcground of North Carolina including its food, go her
North Carolina travel guide - Wikitravel

Eating the Country - Seafood at Southport

This place is great for atmosphere and good honest seafood, shrimp were a little overcooked but still pretty good and the crabcake was really tasty. Loved the fact they gave us salad instead of tons of fries. They have a great system where you just go and get beers as and when, then tell them at the end how many you had. View of bay stunning, clientele and staff friendly and fun. If you ever come by Southport, check it out.

Eating the Country - Asheville

It's amazing when you visit somewhere and never have a bad meal - anywhere. If you want to eat some incredible food Asheville is a foodie's paradise. We were there for 3 day and had everything from nouveau local food, latin inspired, organic and traditional a la carte. Above is a picture of the Sisters McMullen bakery full of incredible cupcakes and great sandwiches, and cheap too.

Locally Sourced

Our first night we ate at Table on College Street. They change their menu everyday and pride themselves on using locally sourced ingredients wherever possible. I ordered rabbit and was impressed with how tender it was. The peas and ricotta gnochi were good accompaniments, however I found the sauce a little overpowering for the subtle taste f the meat.

Staff in the restaurant were friendly and knowledgeable concerning the menu and I had the biggest martini I have ever seen. Great atmosphere, recommended.

Rockin' Pizza

Second night we went to the Mellow Mushroom on Broadway Street. The pizza is more deep pan, but the toppings and sauce are delicious, I went for the Kosmic Karma pizza which had spinach, feta and pesto - really wonderful. Unfortunately it was raining when we went so couldn't sit out on the terrace, this would've been preferable as we found it a bit too loud inside.

Food with a View

For a dinner with oodles of atmosphere you can't beat the Grove Park Inn. Nestled in the mountains just outside of Asheville the views are truly spectacular. We ate on the Sunset Terrace which has an a la carte menu of steaks, duck, seafood and more. We opted for their 3 course for $30 with mussels to start followed by steak diane and cheesecake for dessert. Everything was perfectly cooked and with perfect seasoning, and considering the views, this is an excellent bargain.

Breakfast

We ate breakfast at 3 different places, all great.

Over Easy Cafe on Walnut Street

West End Bakery on Haywood, West Asheville

Chorizo on Page Avenue - by far our favourite, service was a little 'relaxed' but food well worth the wait. Tortillas with eggs, thick pieces of bacon, chutney, guacamole, cilantro-fragrant salsa. Heaven.

Pear and goats cheese salad

THIS IS A GREEN RECIPE

This is a great salad as a starter.

- First, caramelise some pecans. Whip up some egg whites (about 2 large ones) until foamy and drop raw pecans into them

- Remove the nuts and drop them into a zip lock bag containing sugar , toss to coat

- Bake in a low oven for about 20 minutes on a greased baking tray

- leave to cool

- Meanwhile cute a log of goats' cheese like chevre, into wheels and coat in panko

- Grill until crispy

- While the cheese is grilling put salad leaves and slices of crisp pear on each plate

- Dress with balsamic vinegar and olive oil

- Finishe with the cheese and pecans

Chicken Soup

THIS IS A BLUE RECIPE

This is my mother-in-law's wonderful chicken soup. It is simple and hearty with huge noodles.

She makes her soup by cooking chicken breasts in broth then removing and cutting up the breasts while the noodles cook. She then adds sweetcorn and the shredded chicken back to soup. Wonderful.

Eating The Country - Part 2

I make it a rule when visiting somewhere that I try the local specialities first and in North Carolina this means seafood and good 'low country' cooking. The first two pictures show lunch we had at the Raleigh farmer's market. Broiled scallops with home fries, hush puppies and 'slaw. My father-in-law tells me that hush puppies come from years back when cooks would throw a little to the family dog to hush it up. These scallops were just wonderful, tender and flavoursome and ridiculously cheap.

On to the charming and quirky city of Wilmington and a lunch of catfish, grits and collard greens. I love all green vegetables and so collards are a great find. I was surprised at how much I loved the grits too which were creamy and mellow and soaked up the sauce of the fish beautifully.

Food Tourism

Being a foodie means that I love to find a good market but it's not just because I love to eat. Markets are a great opportunity to learn about the landscape and history of a place. This market in Raleigh was full of fresh produce as well as wonderful preserves, pickles and gourmet foods. It was an eye opener and I made some discoveries - apple butter for example, never heard of it and though we bought some, I haven't tried it yet. And the muscadine grape which is used for wine making in the region.

Eating the Country

One of the best things about travelling for me is discovering new food. People are often dismissive about food in the US, claiming it's all about the portions. I have always found my trips to America to be real culinary adventures. The supermarkets alone are an experience, even overwhelming after the simple markets of Zambia. I was amazed at the freezer sections in supermarkets here, easily 4 times the size of the ones in Zambian supermarkets.

To be honest, the awe is short-lived when you realise that a lot of the processed foods sold in the US are rather awful. The one exception I make is for Twinkies! I have a real passion for these terrifyingly bright yellow cakes with cream so sweet your teeth ache just looking at them. Bad for you they may be but I love them. I also love peppermint patties; they are one of the few candies I can stand.

Supermarkets aside, we are in North Carolina where there is a strong food culture of seafood and southern cooking and I am looking forward to sampling all the 'low country' has to offer.

To be continued...