You're Invited to Cornbread Suppers -- And Why We Do Them in the First Place

Here's how Steve and Rona answer the big question: Why Cornbread Suppers??

We host a weekly shared supper, and invite anyone who wants to come (YOU, for example) for these reasons:

1. To offer a standing option to make one weeknight meal convivial

2. To establish a "Cornbread Salon" where the people behind all manner of good projects and ideas can connect

3. To lighten burdens and add joy

4. To nourish body, mind, spirit, and community

Background: For a long time, we have wanted to host a weekly gathering for friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Steve co-hosted a weekly potluck and music gathering at the time he and Rona met. Rona liked that gathering, the music, and the openness of the hospitality very much.

Why cornbread? We got the Cornbread Supper idea from this excellent story by Judy Walker in The Times-Picayune. Then we learned more about how well corn, cornbread(s) and Kentucky fit together - and we got out the cast iron skillets, turned on the oven, and opened the front door.

If you want to know more about the expectations, rules, and "culture" of Cornbread Supper before trying it out, here's your information.

All are invited. No RSVP necessary. New people come most weeks.

Comments

Boone Tavern Spoon Bread, the 1950s recipe

We have tried spoonbreads (soft, luscious, buttery—described by James Beard as a "heavy, dense soufflé") as Cornbread Supper mainstays before, and used great recipes, but the spoonbreads always did what spoonbreads (and soufflés) do: deflate. Through serendipity, and thanks to a Cornbread Supperian, I lucked into the old Boone Tavern (Berea College) recipe for spoonbread, and it is far less droopy. Perhaps Boone Tavern developed an approach to spoonbread that preserves all its goodness while still working for a busy restaurant. In any case, with thanks to Kentucky food and foodways author and guru John van Willigen, here's an excellent recipe for that can be doubled, tripled, and quadrupled to feed spoonbread to a crowd. It did just that on Monday, February 25, 2013. From Richard T. Hougen. Look No Further: A cookbook of favorite recipes from Boone Tavern Hotel, Berea College, Kentucky. New York: Abingdon Press. 1955. Southern Spoon Bread 1955 Ingredients 3 c...

We remember Vicky Schankula, 1947–2016

Vicky Schankula, at right, in purple One of life's most gracious and delightful people, Victoria Fairbanks Schankula, found Cornbread Suppers early on, and took joy in the weekly gatherings. She came to Cornbread Supper faithfully, bringing beautiful food, laughter, a camera for her "picture of the day," a lovely British accent, a commitment to helping clean up, and a constant interest in each other person in the room. When Vicky entered the house on Monday nights carrying a particular large round plate, children (and a few adults) trailed her to the dessert table to see what she had brought. The favorites: lemon bars, brownies and her mother's most unusual, delicious carrot cake. Vicky graciously shared and allowed us to publish recipes for Lemon Bars and Isabel Fairbairns's (Gangy's) Carrot Cake on this site. Gangy's Carrot Cake on Vicky Schankula's special dessert plate When illness prevented Vicky from returning to Cornbread Supper...

Cornbread Supper now is resting

For all the Cornbreadians and would-be Cornbreadians -- it was a good run. A bit more than nine years. You came on Mondays. Conviviality ensued. You made community. Gratitude to all. It was a gift to us.

Cornbread Supper

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