Cell phone service still isnt great in the Appalachian town, so she breaks up a little.
But her next line comes through loud and clear: This has been a really painful experience.
(The river just swelled over and washed away our road, she says.)
James Beard finalist chef and Asheville resident Ashleigh Shanti. Her cookbook,Our South: Black Food Through My Lens, came out this week—as the Southern Appalachian region she lives, works in, and loves reels from Hurricane Helene.
Remote learning has been impossible as internet connection is scarce.
So instead, shes opened a free outdoor food pop-up calledSweet Relief Kitchenwith fellow Asheville chef Silver Iocovozzi.
Over the past few weeks, theyve served everything from smoked chicken to Filipino spaghetti to whoever wants it.
Photo: Johnny Autry
Were cooking in a way that I think is very Appalachianjust using what you have, she says.
Amid it all, Shantis first cookbook,Our South: Black Food Through My Lens, was published.
Each micro-region here is so distinctly different from the other, she explains.
Its just seen as very simple and maybe even bland, says Shanti.
As the cookbook unfurls, the chef shatters that assumption with recipe after recipe.
There are brown butter apple pork chops, peppery turnip soup, and bologna schnitzel sandwiches.
For dessert, theres a mean apple stack cake.
I enjoy getting really creative with a lot of these traditional recipes, she says.
The October 15 publish date ofOur South: Black Food Through My Lenswas set several months ago.
Yet its arrival feels serendipitous.
Below, Shantis recipe for Spicy Beet Chow Chow fromOur South: Black Food Through My Lens.
It has a nice little kick to it, she says.
Published by Union Square & Co. Photographs Johnny Autry.
