For many North Carolinians, food is the anchor for friends and family to come together over the holidays. And a simple request to “pass the potatoes” can be a welcome interruption that keeps the family dynamic from spiralling downhill. So how do family traditions emerge and what determines their staying power for generations to come?
Host Frank Stasio speaks with a panel of three North Carolina writers about the foundational holiday foods in their family festivities; Steven Petrow is a modern manners expert and a columnist with The Washington Post, Nancie McDermott is a food writer, cooking teacher, and chef, and Randall Kenan is a writer, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the editor of “The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food” (Eno Publishers/2016).