Historian sinks teeth into state

David Cecelski insists he's not a food writer. But he lives by the food writer's creed: Eat and tell.

Cecelski's real title is historian. He has a Ph.D. from Harvard, he teaches sometimes at Duke University, and he writes weighty books about slavery and civil rights.

But Cecelski (say it "sah-SELL-ski) has this other job. Everywhere he goes for book research, he looks for places to eat. Then he writes about them on a blog for the N.C. Folklife Institute, at ncfolk.org (click on "NC Food").

When he visits High Point, where jazz musician John Coltrane grew up, he finds a soul food restaurant, Becky's and Mary's. On the coast in Little Washington, he finds Bill's Hot Dogs with the strange white chili.

Driving along a country road, he sees a handwritten sign for "fish stew." Most of us would drive on. Cecelski pulls in and spends the afternoon.

He writes about North Carolina traditions like Moravian chicken pie in Danbury, the St. Nicholas Greek Festival in Wilmington, shad runs, grapehull pies and Ocracoke blackberry dumplings.

He also writes with relish about the newer North Carolina, the one with taquerias and Laotian sandwich places.

I started following Cecelski when food writer John T. Edge told me about a post on Lumberton collard sandwiches. Since then, I have learned that he is prolific and inspiring.

The guy has been everywhere and has eaten everything. Stuff I've only heard of, food I've had on my wish list for years.

He didn't set out to be a food writer, he says, and still doesn't consider himself one. (For years, Cecelski wrote "Listening to History" for The N&O's former Sunday Journal section.) The blog started with a class he taught at Duke on North Carolina maritime history. He cooked with the students to show them coastal traditions.

"In a way I hadn't anticipated, the students loved being in the kitchen." It evolved into that great experience of cooking, the way you relax and share over food. Other people started coming, up to 100 at a time. Eventually, people from the Folklife Institute showed up and invited him to do something on their Web site.

"The understanding was, I would do it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to do it." In other words, he looks for places while he's traveling for research.

Past and present

Sometimes he writes about his own life, his family's Eastern North Carolina farm and traditions. One lovely post is called "The Best Meal Ever," about his mother, who has Alzheimer's. As she loses touch, she begins to treasure things, even her son's cooking.

The blog feeds other needs, he says. History books take years to write, while a blog post is almost instant. And food is a chance to revel in the present.

"[In books] I write a lot about things that aren't especially happy. My last two books have been about slavery. I love having the chance to exult in the glory of good things."

He doesn't research places, doesn't scrub foodie Web sites for the latest hot find. Mostly, he trusts serendipity. And he's bold - he doesn't hesitate to push open a door in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Cecelski cautions again that he is not a food writer, not someone who will tell you the best place to get dinner. Negative reviews are not what he does.

"I'm not a journalist. I'm a historian. The reader has to take that. If the waitress calls me 'sweetie' and the place is full of old people telling stories, I'm going to say it's the best place ever, even if I hear can openers in the back."