WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — At this year’s Cast Iron Cook-Off competition at The Greenbrier, more than a dozen West Virginia chefs created dishes that tried to answer the elusive question — what is Appalachian cuisine?

Judging by the recipes, as well as their presentation, Appalachian cuisine, as it’s being defined here, sits squarely at the intersection of tradition and trend. Contemporary food movements like “nose to tail,” which uses all parts of an animal, and “farm to table,” which focuses on locally sourced ingredients, mesh seamlessly with the wisdom and necessity of our ancestors.

In fact, you might be surprised how much grandma’s old school cooking and the work of sophisticated contemporary chefs have in common. While grandma used home-grown, wild ingredients by necessity, today’s chefs do so because such products are often of better quality, more nutritious and leave a lighter carbon footprint.

It’s as though Appalachian cooking has come full circle, drawing from its traditional roots to produce a fresh new flower. As often happens when we try to define some aspect of “Appalachian” culture, we reference the past to describe the present.

Dave Arnold, managing partner for Adventures on the Gorge, sits on the board of the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia, which organizes the event. He defines its mission this way.

“When I’m asked what the event is all about, I say it’s about you walking down the street in New York City and between the Vietnamese and Thai restaurants, there’s an Appalachian restaurant.”

The Collaborative aims to “develop a world recognition for a regional New Appalachian Cuisine that employs indigenous ingredients as well as traditional cookware.”

“It’s about taking global foods, fusing local ingredients and giving it a regional interpretation,” says Dale Hawkins, owner of Fish Hawk Acres farm and a founding member of the Collaborative.

Case in point is Chef Isabel Cross, who headed up this year’s winning team, composed of students of Mountwest Community and Technical College. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Cross had about four months to absorb the flavors of Appalachian cuisine and present a competitive menu. She says she looked to her students in the culinary arts program for advice.

Though she wanted to use squirrel and moonshine in the competition, she couldn’t find a legal source of either that shone as much as their contraband counterparts. Instead, her standout dish was smoked trout cakes with hot pepper jelly. As a relative “outsider” to Appalachian food and culture, Cross embodies the mantra of the cook-off — a fresh take on tradition wins the day.

The Cast Iron Cook-Off is partly about creating a recognizable brand around Appalachian cooking, translating culture into commodity. The event coincided with the West Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association’s Hospitality University.

“In the same way that Napa Valley is known for wine, there is a great opportunity in West Virginia to also have the cuisine be a kind of trademark,” says Frank Jorgensen, chair of the West Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association.

“For example, the last dessert we had was a pancake with black raspberry Bavarian cream, but the mill that ground the grain was the focus,” says Rod Stoner, lead judge and former vice president of Food and Beverage for The Greenbrier. “All across the region, you have these old mills still in operation. The dish drew attention to that fact. It’s about the identification of how rich the heritage is.”

The event also aims to educate. Each competing team includes amateur cooks as well as high school culinary arts students in the ProStart program. In an effort to raise up young West Virginia chefs, ProStart provides training, support, and scholarships to students interested in cooking, a mission the Collaborative supports.

Alexis DeMoss and Tyler Richmond joined the Smokey’s on the Gorge team as ProStart students from Shady Spring High School. Home-grown, family-centered meals shaped their ideas of Appalachian cooking.

“I think of [Appalachian cuisine] as home cooking, the stuff you grow in your back yard,” says DeMoss. “People here made their own food — they had to. And people want to stay home with their family.”

“It makes me think of loved ones that have passed, and their recipes,” says Richmond.

Both of their families have gardens that provide ingredients for home cooked dishes. DeMoss’ father takes advantage of deer season to supply the family with steaks, jerky, and stew.

While DeMoss’ ideas about Appalachian cuisine may be rooted in tradition, her interest in baking was piqued by reality cooking shows like “Ace of Cakes” and “Cupcake Wars,” a trend among many of the young cooks at Saturday’s competition.

For Smokey’s lead chef Tim White — who took home the Best Teamwork and Leadership award — Appalachian food is likewise intertwined with memory and blood ties. His father’s “mountain-grown” family “lived off the land,” he says.

“I have memories of foraging for berries and ramps, going fishing and hunting,” he says. “I eat a blackberry and I’m back on the side of that hill picking.

“There was always something hanging or drying in the house. As a kid, it was kind of embarrassing. Now I would kill for that knowledge,” he says.

While the chefs did their utmost, the true star of the event was the West Virginia small farmer, whose products gave each dish its true backbone. Identified by blue ribbons on their lapels, they wandered through the crowd, proudly witnessing the fruits of their labor fried up on the griddle.

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture was out in force, with Agricultural Commissioner Gus Douglass serving as one of the event’s judges. Douglass also took home the Pioneer Award for “fostering and forwarding tourism in West Virginia.”

One wonders why such a competition isn’t held during growing season. Finding locally sourced ingredients has been a challenge for competitors in years past, says Hawkins, who has seen the event evolve and was surprised this year by the amount and variety of local products he tasted.

“What’s interesting is we’re starting to see chefs push for more product. It used to be the other way around,” he says.

Another potential surprise was the relative healthfulness of the dishes presented. Appalachia isn’t exactly known for its health food, and we’ve all heard the statistics on obesity and diabetes in West Virginia and surrounding states. Yet Saturday’s event often showcased foods that heal, like wild foraged greens, mineral-rich root vegetables, and honey. Of course, the pork belly creme brulée was one of several exceptions.

If the consortium succeeds not only in attracting visitors to the tastes of Appalachia, but also in shifting the tastes of Appalachians themselves, it just may be able to turn around some of those unhealthier eating habits, reminding locals of the healthful abundance in their own backyards and forests.

“We’re in a position to teach and say balance is what it’s all about. We in the restaurant industry are the catalyst,” says Stoner.

Next year, organizers hope to expand the cook-off to include more Appalachian states.

“In West Virginia, we’re a leader in the local food movement,” says Hawkins, who wears the hat of both farmer and chef. “For West Virginia to say we’re a leader in something, I think is significant.”

Arnold, perhaps, put it most succinctly.

“The answer to the question — what is Appalachian cuisine? — is, we’re creating it here, right now.”

— E-mail: cmoore@register-herald.com�