NPR
A listener questions a colorful detail in an NPR story about a boarding school for overweight children, which stated that the school is located western North Carolina, “in a part of the country known for its caloric cuisine, but don’t look for that here. No buttered cornbread, no pork barbecue, no huckleberry pie with home-churned ice cream.” A listener in Durham writes, “I don’t even know what a huckleberry looks like. While this may seem like a quibble, the mention of huckleberry pie perpetuates regional stereotypes, reinforcing images of quaint bumpkins living in Mayberry. We don’t eat huckleberry pie – really.” NPR turned to the chef at the well-known Chapel Hill restaurant Crook’s Corner (order the shrimp and grits) for an expert opinion, and he agrees. But reporter Karen Grigsby Bates says she used to pick huckleberries during summers with her grandparents in Charlotte. Considering the reaction to this, imagine if she had confused eastern and western North Carolina barbecue. || Related: Iowans furious over journalism professor’s description of them in Atlantic magazine story (AP/Atlantic)
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