The truth behind all those stories about barbecue and bourbon

How do I get myself into these things? All I said was this:

“Men are the new carpetbaggers of Southern food writing.”

OK, yes, it is true I said this in a room with several hundred people in it. Several hundred people who included quite a few men and more than quite a few women, and a whole lot more than quite a few food writers, both the Southern-bred and the Southern-enthused.

And yes, a pretty good handful of them were influential editors of Southern publications, publications in which I sometimes supplement my income as a newspaper food writer.

You’d think I might be smart enough to make nice.

But no, on the day when I did this, when I stood up in public and declared that the Southern food-writing world has been unduly influenced, usurped, yes, even invaded, by a barbecue-entranced, bourbon-preoccupied and pork belly-obsessed horde of mostly testosterone-fueled scribes from outside the region of my birth, I just happened to be attending a food-writing conference in Birmingham, Ala., an annual event of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

One of the influential editors in attendance happened to be Chuck Reece, a founder and guidestar of The Bitter Southerner, who was delivering a talk on how to pitch stories to influential editors such as himself.

Reece asked for story pitches from the crowd. So I lurched to my feet and issued the statement I’ve presented to you, as a possible subject for The Bitter Southerner:

“Men are the new carpetbaggers of Southern food writing.”

What did Chuck Reece do? He looked at me with a bemused sort of grin and said one word. One word that has sealed my fate and probably will cause long-lasting damage to what has been my brilliant career. He said this:

“Sold.”

Oh, darn. I suppose I’ll have to write it.

And write it she did. Kathleen Purvis’ full article,“The testosterone takeover of Southern food writing,” may be read at bittersoutherner.com. A shorter version of that piece is in the Sunday, July 3, print edition of The News & Observer.

This story was originally published July 2, 2016 at 11:58 AM with the headline "The truth behind all those stories about barbecue and bourbon."