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Deep Fried Kudzu

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Posted on August 27, 2024September 1, 2024 by ginger

Window Men

Blakeley-Mitchell Menswear, Bristol TN VA

Blakeley-Mitchell Menswear
Bristol TN, 2022.

One of those fabulous menswear shirts that make downtowns perfect. Of course they’re repping Hart Schaffner Marx.

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About

Hi – I’m Ginger. I document vernacular and visionary art and art environments,  and study Southern folkways, currently documenting 100+ Alabama graveshelters. Besides those things, I like to share recipes and visits to fab restaurants, museums, and hotels.

I’ve had two careers: first as CPO from a subsidiary spinoff of IMAX, then once I decided to return to an office setting when my boys were old enough to go to school, I became Creative Director at a boutique publishing company.

My family includes two fabulous, very active teen boys, one a freshman at Alabama (RTR!) and the other a high school junior at ISS who also attends Bama Early College and Harvard Summer. I grew up a small-town girl and am the 7th generation of my family born in Alabama.

Family and volunteering are my heart: Leadership Birmingham ’24; president, Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood; president, Forest Park Garden Club; immediate past president B’ham Hadassah; 2nd VP,  Cliffside Garden Club; on the board of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and the Alabama Holocaust Education Center. 2025 Chair, Indian Springs School Harvest Under the Stars. 2023 Junior League of Birmingham Provisional of the Year. In 2025, I was honored to be introduced by Gov Ivey at her Chanukah reception at the Governor’s mansion and light the menorah.

Love a good community engagement activity. Have a good project? Let’s hear!

…and I’m so happy you’re at DFK today.
You can email me at
ginger@deepfriedkudzu.com
with anything you’d like to share.


Copyright © 2004 – 2026. All rights reserved. See full © statement at the copyright page.


Affiliate links are sometimes used here. If you purchase something via one of the links, it costs you nothing extra, but may generate a commission, offsetting the cost of DFK… e.g. as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Grateful for your support. xoxo!

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Shop My Bookshelf

  • Listed below are books I've read *or* mentioned in posts here in March-April 2026, followed by corresponding links to Bookshop which ships from indie bookstores, and Amazon which sometimes has better inventory:
  • William Eggleston: The Last Dyes (Bookshop / Amazon)
  • Philadelphia's Magic Gardens: The Dreamwork of Isaiah Zagar (only on Amazon)
  • William Edmondson: A Monumental Vision (Bookshop / Amazon)
  • Bottom Shelf: How a Forgotten Brand of Bourbon Saved One Man's Life, by Fred Minnick (Bookshop / Amazon)
  • Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers, by Jean Strouse (Bookshop / Amazon)
  • Southern Women, Southern Landscapes: Cultural Reflections on the Garden, 1870-1970 (Bookshop / Amazon)
  • One Writer's Garden: Eudora Welty's Home Place (Bookshop / Amazon)

Being Published


I am grateful that my images, written work, and creative concepts have been published, and serve as a source/consultant on Southern folklife and foodways. I can be reached here.

Here are some of the projects I've been honored to be a part of, listed in order of date:

The cover of Juke Joint Soul CD -- Courthouse protest in Harvard College Economics Review -- Katrina pics in Louisiana PBS documentary, Surviving the Storm -- Boll Weevil Monument pic in the French Journal Insectes

Bryant Store pic in the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, magazine OnStage
-- Various pics, Encyclopedia of Alabama -- Several pics of Joe Minter's art environment for exhibit including him at Vulcan Park and Museum -- Organizing feature at Apartment Therapy -- Montreal's Gibeau Orange Julep in Food: Alphabet City Magazine 12 -- Doe's Eat Place tamales image at Gourmet.com

Causeyville General Store pic used in web interactive game 'Adventure A-Go-Go' for Starwood Hotel's Aloft brand Hotels -- Monroeville Courthouse / Mockingbird pics in Good Reading Magazine -- Pensacola Futuro house pic at New York Daily News -- Benjamin Butler pot in the National Park Service's literature at Lowell National Historic Park -- Moundville pics in educational film on indigenous people by University of Chile

Slugburger at SeriousEats -- Mississippi Amish community in Jackson Free Press -- Oxford Mound for the Institute of Southern Studies -- Indian mound pics used in the movie The New Daughter -- Gift wrap station idea produced for Lowe's Creative Ideas Magazine -- Snowman cutout for yard fun idea produced for Lowe's Creative Ideas Magazine -- Star of David idea produced for Lowe's Creative Ideas Magazine -- Dreidel pad game idea produced for Lowe's Creative Ideas Magazine

Several pics in the book Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom -- Contributor, Best Road Trip Ever! iPhone App -- Howard Finster image in Glorious Constructions: The Struggle to Preserve Salvation-Themed Visionary Art Environments -- Peaches Cafe pic for Barefoot Workshops Documentary -- Poster in Crit Architecture Journal

Consultant on MS Culinary Trail for MS Tourism -- Stone bath mat idea produced for Lowe's Creative Ideas Magazine -- W.C. Rice's Cross Garden image at Art21

Feature about DFK and making Easter baskets for children in homeless shelters, with a tutorial on naturally-dyed eggs, for the Publix Supermarket FamilyStyle magazine -- Interview with me about DFK and travel in Alabama on the arts program, Tapestry, on the Bham public radio station, WBHM

Pic of American Village sounding board for Society of Colonial Wars book -- Adjudicated grant applications for folk art fellowship, apprenticeship and roster for the Mississippi Arts Commission -- Koolickle for FoodandWine.com -- Vincent Oliver's Hippodrome for Black & White

Gee's Bend Quilt Mural for Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement book -- Koolickle image at the BBC -- 'I Heart Alabama Gulf Seafood' feature for Alabama Gulf Seafood promotion -- Feature article about Deep Fried Kudzu in Sunday Anniston Star: Deep Fried Kudzu is Alabama Blogger's Love Letter to the South

Koolickle image for Scholastic's Action Magazine -- Source for 'Legends, Lore, and True Tales of the Chattahoochee' -- New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Folk Art v. 23 --- Speaker, Alabama Community Scholars Institute, Alabama Folklife Association

Quoted, images for Yahoo! Shine feature on slugburgers -- Consulted, Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods America for Birmingham episode -- Mound image for Architecture of First Societies: A Global Perspective -- Hystercine Rankin quilt image at Converge Magazine -- Museum image for 2nd ed Eat Dat New Orleans: A Guide to the Unique Food Culture of the Crescent City

Images of Wade Wharton's Art Environment for SPACES -- Rockower Award, Cover Design -- Images of Old Cahawba for Alabama Magazine -- Simmons-Wright Country Store image for Atlanta Magazine's Southbound -- Courthouse Murals images for Hyperallergic -- Green Warehouse pic in William Christenberry piece, Medium Vantage

Roadside Religious Signs for Okra Magazine -- Tom Hendrix Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall at Atlas Obscura -- Various, al.com -- Joe Minter's African Village in America image for Atlanta Magazine's Southbound -- Various, Birmingham Wiki -- Photo for Anne LeBaron CD booklet

Coal Service Station in Business Alabama Magazine -- Nelle Harper Lee pic in TKAM piece in the A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences Journal of Literary History -- Regions Field image for Birmingham Baseball exhibit at Vulcan Park & Museum -- Images of Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery, and additional Wade Wharton images, for SPACES -- Old Houston Jail in Alabama Magazine

Image of Mary Points monument in American Gravestone Studies Quarterly -- Images of glass restrooms in downtown Sulphur Springs TX for city planning master plans and presentations -- Image of Ave Maria Grotto for al.com -- Images of Jim Bird's art environment in Folkland AL for SPACES -- Roadside Religious images in Icon & Spirit, Volume 2

Reviewer, Alabama Folklife Association Fellowship applications -- Stained glass window image in art installation at St Marks Episcopal Church, Palo Alto CA -- Futuro architecture pic for Virginian-Pilot -- Successfully nominated Alice Finch Lee to 2023 Alabama Women's Hall of Fame

Speaker, Holocaust Remembrance Day at Athens State University -- Moon Winx sign at The Retrologist -- Contributor of art environment images at SPACES -- Images, Encyclopedia of Alabama -- Images for Alabama Heritage site and Instagram -- Editor, Tributaries 17

Dual Destiny monument image in 4th grade textbook -- Editor, Tributaries 18 -- Dentzel Carousel photo for Memphis Grand Carousel -- Nadine Earles Dollhouse Monument, Alabama Heritage Magazine -- Agam memorial in Supergraphic Landscapes: From Public Art to Urban Design, coming out in 2026

Recipes


All the recipes are at this page.
Here are the 20 most popular:

Pralines
Lemon Bars
Watermelon Rind Pickles
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Creole Cream Cheese Cheesecake
Comeback Sauce
White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Homemade Creole Cream Cheese
Liver With Hot Pepper Jelly Appetizers
Fantail Rolls
Pot Likker Matzoh Balls
Hummingbird Cake
Alabama Caviar
Glorious Fruitcake
Original Lane Cake
Tomato Pie
Fork & Plate Fried Pies
Fried Matzah Balls
Passover Baby Bites
Espresso Sorbet

Let’s Eat


Favorite Restaurants:
1. Le Cirque, Las Vegas
2. Commander’s Palace, New Orleans LA
3. Doe’s Eat Place, Greenville MS
4. Gibbes Store, Learned MS
5. Chez Fonfon, Birmingham AL
6. Taylor Grocery, Taylor MS
7. Lucky Cheetah, Portland ME
8. Arnaud’s, New Orleans LA
9. Bombay Brasserie, San Francisco CA
10. Antoine’s, New Orleans LA
11. Ninfa’s on Navigation, Houston TX
12. Bob’s Clam Hut, Kittery ME

Extra Credit:
The Poodle Room, Las Vegas NV
Niner Wine Estates, Paso Robles CA
Randy’s Doughnuts, Los Angeles CA
Hitching Post II (for wine outdoors), Buellton CA
The Cake Bake Shop, Indianapolis IN
The Garage, Birmingham AL
The Culinary Room, Lockhart TX (the cookies, omgosh)
Crown Winery (for enjoying wine while sitting in the middle of the creek), Leipers Fork TN

Let’s Stay A While


Favorite Hotels:
1. Urban Cowboy, Nashville
2. Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
3. Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas
4. Mansion on Forsyth Park – Hotel Bardo, Savannah
5. 21C Museum Hotel, Bentonville
6. Dwell Hotel, Chattanooga
7. The Driskill, Austin
8. St Regis, Atlanta
9. St Anthony Hotel, San Antonio
10. Ritz-Carlton, Lake Oconee – Reynolds

Making Little Maps

I make niche-y little maps.

1. Indie Bookstores in Alabama
Independent, new-book-forward bookstores across the state. Excludes shops focused mostly or entirely on used books

2. Slugburgers
Documenting the places that still make and serve the slugburger

3. Original Whataburger A-Frames still functioning as Whataburgers

4. Not comprehensive (yet) Old Soda Fountains and Dairy Bars in Alabama

5. Revolving Table and Family-Style Restaurants (all dishes automatically served)

5. Historic Alabama Theatres / Theaters many no longer in regular use, but all still displaying their marquees at the time of last visit

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