Potlikker Film Festival coming to Bentonville

Food! Beer! Bluegrass! Films, too!


The Southern Foodways Alliance, a non-profit based at Ole Miss' Center for the Study of Southern Culture that studies the culture of food in the South, is collaborating with chef Matt McClure (21c Museum Hotel) to host the Bentonville Potlikker Film Festival on Saturday, Aug. 9. The celebration of Southern cooking will include food-films by Joe York, "Fish Ribs in Little Rock," about the Lassis Inn, and "Ovens are for Pies," about McClard's Barbecue, will feed the mind and Arkansas chefs McClure, Matt Bell (South on Main) and Travis McConnell (Butcher and Public), using groceries from Arkansas growers Falling Sky Farm, Armstead Mountain Farm, Cedar Creek Farms and Rios Family Farm will feed the bellies.

York, you may remember, made the films about Dallas Bump ("Bump") and Violet Hensley ("74 Fiddles") for the Arkansas Made Film Living Treasure Series. Foodies know and love the chefs. Ozark Beer Co. and Mountain Valley Spring Water will make sure no one goes thirsty. Foley's Van bluegrass will make sure everyone is merry. For $75 (includes everything), you can't go wrong, especially since you can go to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art pre-festival (here's what's happening at CBMAA that day).

The Southern Foodways Alliance has held Potlikker film fests across the South since 2007; this is a first for Arkansas. The festival will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 21c Museum's restaurant and bar The Hive (200 NE A St., Bentonville).


If you're not familiar with the Southern Foodways Alliance, well ... you should be. Based in Oxford, Miss., the SFA is an association of more than 800 really cool people who are engaged in the mission to document, protect and celebrate the food heritage of the American South.

Academics, chefs and food aficionados work together to produce films, stage conferences and compile collections of food-based literature. The Atlantic Monthly called the SFA "this country's most intellectually engaged food society."

About the Southern Foodways Alliance: The Southern Foodways Alliance documents, studies, and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. We set a common table where black and white, rich and poor — all who gather — may consider our history and our future in a spirit of reconciliation.

A member-supported non-profit, based at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, we stage symposia, produce documentary films, collect oral histories, sponsor scholarship, mentor students, and publish great writing. Donations from generous individuals, foundations, and companies fund our good work.

Tickets are priced at $75 and include food, film and drink.



Looking forward to making the trip up there for this. Interested in watching the films about Little Rock's famous Lassis Inn, McClards and drink a few beers. Not sure when the Potlikker will make it back to Arkansas, so I don't want to miss out on this one.

Eat local, eat fresh