WRITE TEAM: Ozark cuisine? Yes, it's a thing. And it's delicious

Looking back over 2020 will bring to mind a vast cornucopia of thoughts, emotions and memories. Quarantined in our homes as we sheltered in place, we were looking for things to fill our time to alleviate the boredom and anxiety of not going out. Television streaming services saw a particularly large surge in viewership during the pandemic, the biggest winner being Netflix.

Netflix had brought out some great programming. I personally never watched “Tiger King,” mainly because my adult children, who were sheltering in Ottawa at the time, didn’t think it would be my kind of show. “Ozark,” on the other hand, was a bit more my speed.

Now before you stop reading because you think this is another viewer review of the series, it is not. I am simply using it as the backdrop for my theory as to why a new food movement is starting to gain in popularity: Ozark cuisine.

While there is no universally accepted definition of what Ozark cuisine is, I found an interesting explanation from, of all places, the BBC that reads in part, “Including Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, the Ozarks is a geographic region known for its mountainous topography, forests and tourism. The region also has a unique culinary history. it’s a sub-genre of Southern cooking that goes beyond the foods that are currently grown locally in that region.”

People are starting to seek out this uniquely regional, but growing type of cuisine.

As it happens, both sides of our family have roots in the Ozarks. My mother-in-law’s family is literally from Ozark, Arkansas, a small, beautiful little town on the banks of the Arkansas river, about 30 miles east of Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I’ll give you a second to google it.

I have eaten some of the best ribs I’ve ever eaten in Ozark. A standard slab comes with beans, coleslaw, cornbread and a big schooner of sweet tea.

My mom’s side of the family is from St. Louis and surrounding areas, so you don’t have to dig too deep to hit Ozark. My grandmother considered herself a Southern transplant, having been born and raised in Chicago, and jumped into southern cooking with classic dishes like fried catfish, okra (yuck) and, of course, cornbread. The occasional pot of matzo ball soup did throw me for a loop.

So, as it turns out, I have been enjoying Ozark cuisine since I was a kid. When I was researching the history of this food, I noticed that pigs played a big roll in recipes. Northwest Arkansas is known for the plethora of wild pigs, or hogs, that are believed to have come from an under-harvesting of animals by pig farmers. If they couldn’t sell their pigs, they would just let them go and, as Dr. Malcolm Ian said, “Life finds a way.”

Last weekend, I dove headfirst into Ozark cooking. I found a classic recipe for chicken fried steak (thanks to Handy Foods for having cube steak), mashed potatoes with cream gravy, fresh corn and coleslaw. I did have sweet tea, but it got that way from Sweet’N Low, the pink stuff. I have to say, it was remarkable.

There are a ton of sources to find Ozark cuisine recipes if you want to try it, so start googling. The Ozarks might just be one of the best-kept secrets in America. As Ozark Airlines used to say, “Go Getters Go Ozark!”

• Jonathan Freeburg is an Ottawa transplant for the last 25 years. Jonathan also is a regular contributor to 1430 WCMY Radio. His real job is insurance as a cover-holder for Lloyd’s of London.