What is all the mystique around cooking these days? Seems like Aunt Bertha, Myrtle and Momma didn’t go around fussin’ over the things we thought tasted like a million bucks when we were little. What’s changed?

Well for one thing our raw ingredients don’t seem so raw anymore. Just try to find cream that rises to the top of the container. It is rarer than hen’s teeth. That’s because stabilizers have been added that keep all those layers together. Some people might call that progress – at Dixie Picnic we call that altered.

Lots of food additives have been developed, marketed, and utilized to increase the shelf life and improve food’s ability to withstand transportation over long distances and under less than perfect conditions. For example – as corporations gobbled up regional suppliers and production facilities, they embraced the “wisdom” of centralizing production in one location. Often this decision resulted in the shut down of smaller local facilities and the introduction of a larger less personal facility further away from the consumer. Frequently their products don’t survive the trip to the market. That dilemma often leads to the addition of chemicals, stabilizers, preservatives, and artificial flavors.

My grandmother Bucky often said, “There’s a time and a place for everything,” and we understand that sometimes it is necessary to use these additions in food. However, at Dixie Picnic we intentionally design our menu items and baked goods to avoid the unnecessary use of additives and stabilizers. We also attempt to use local sources of produce and dairy. Our poultry products are hormone and antibiotic free. Our dairy products, including our homemade sorbets, gelatos, and premium ice creams are free of taste bud coating stabilizers. The result is a better, fresher, more flavorful product crafted with pride in our kitchen.

Authentic food is just Dixie Picnic’s way of trying to get just a little part of our lives back to what is real.