It’s a measure of the sheer pace of change and upheaval in the food and drink business that Taste, one of two concepts mentioned herein, already closed in May.
The story is from 2020. It’s a deep dive into Travis Milton, his instincts for revival, and the heritage of foodways in Appalachia, a topic I’m guessing quite few of us have considered lately.
The introductory snippet is long, but there’s much more to read, and Atlas Obscura has no pay wall.
The Chef Restoring Appalachia’s World-Class Food Culture, by Eric J. Wallace (Atlas Obscura)
A coal fortune is fueling the revival of a cuisine it nearly destroyed.
The late-August sun blazes overhead as Travis Milton enters the gated two-acre vegetable garden just steps from Taste, his new brews-and-bistro-style pub. Some 200 yards away, an accompanying fine-dining spot, Hickory, is being built. He walks along a row of heavy, two-foot-long Candy Roaster winter squashes that, when sliced, reveal delicate pink-orange flesh. Elsewhere, ears of Bloody Butcher corn as red as a mountain sunset grow alongside Cherokee White Eagle Corn, which contrast, in turn, with licorice-colored Black Nebula carrots.
