Episode 217: Sean Brock

On today’s episode of THE FOOD SEEN, we share the tradition of Southern storytelling with Sean Brock, chef of McCrady’s, Husk,Minero, in Charleston SC and Nashville TN. The son of a coal mining family in rural Wise County, Virginia, Sean never forgot his Appalachian upbringing while finding himself in the Lowcountry. It all started over a simple bowl of Hoppin’ John, and continued itself with a side of cornbread. These dishes are emblematic, not only in the South, put as far as West Africa for the Gullah people. To understand his roots better, Sean researched and traveled, in hopes of reviving ingredients, preserving said tradition, through seed saving, and working with Anson Mills and their Carolina gold rice. Sean celebrates this journey in his debut cookbook, HERITAGE, fittingly holding a handful of heirloom beans on the cover. Of course there’s BBQ, the smell of smoke, and a sip of whiskey or two, but it’s really about his manifesto, and finding yourself through cooking. Then the food has much meaning far deeper than fried chicken. This program was brought to you by Edwards VA Ham.

photo by Andrea Behrends

“I’m a very obsessive person. When I get excited about something I take it way too far.” [13:00]

“The most important thing we can do is raise awareness. As chefs we have an incredibly opportunity to do that with a plate of food.” [16:00]

“There’s way more bad BBQ than there is good BBQ and it didn’t used to be that way.” [20:00]

“These days, we’re able to cook strange species of seafood and people trust us now. as chefs it kind of came out of necessity – we were overfishing. 25:00

–Sean Brock on The Food Seen