Appalachians are the salt of the earth

Last week I went to New York City for work. It was the first time I had been and it was a bit overwhelming at first. I had always wanted to go and am very grateful for the opportunity. We went for a food show, one of the biggest it seems. One of the things I was doing, besides tasting samples of foods from all over the world, was looking at their branding. How did their logo represent them? What did their representatives say about their products? As you know, I am all about some food, though. So the opportunity to try different things was lots of fun, and a bit sickening at times.We ran into a few people and businesses that we knew. There were the Bush's Beans folks, which have their plant right down the road from us. And, I stopped at the booth for Route 11 Potato Chips, which began in Middletown, VA in an old feed store when I was going to Lord Fairfax Community College. I remember people stopping by their place just to buy potato chips. You know it's good when you make one thing and people are stopping to buy just that.Well, it seems they were introducing a new flavor that was right up my alley! I was talking to one of their owners, Sarah, and she told me about the new flavor. It's not even on the shelves yet, but it was making its debut at the show. They call it Appalachian Salt & Cracked Pepper. Well, I immediately took out my business card, yes I have business cards for The Appalachian Tale, and showed her who I was. It seems my reputation don't precede me, but that's ok. I told her that I worked in Pigeon Forge, TN, but grew up in Maurertown, VA. She did know where that was. And, I told her that I went to LFCC, not far from where they started. As we talked, the conversation turned to families living in the Shenandoah Valley and I told her that my mom's family and the family that built the Old Mill where I worked were in the Valley at the same time and the family that built the Mill had settled around Middletown somewhere. She told me that they had moved to Mt. Jackson and her brother lived in Woodstock, just a few miles away from where I grew up. I told her that the man who was considered to be the first Governor of TN grew up in Woodstock and after the Revolutionary War, made his way down to East TN and that his name was John Sevier, and that although he was from VA, a statue of him was in the Capitol to represent TN. She said her brother lived on John Sevier Way and they never knew who he was or why there was a street named after him. So after my little history lesson and the fact that we both were so happy about Appalachia, she gave me a bag! I told her that I would post the pic on my social pages, which I did. By the way, if you don't follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, I would appreciate it if you did! You can find links above, respectively, or to the right of this post.

The salt they use comes from West Virginia in the salt mines under the Appalachian Mountains. I had heard of the salt mines and we actually carry the salt in one of our shops at work. I held onto them the rest of the week and they were in my carry-on bag on the flight home. Once I opened them, I couldn't stop eating them.I looked them up and you can find them here. They even have a jingle. Who has a jingle anymore? Now, this is not a paid endorsement, unless you count that bag of chips, which I kinda do. But I have always liked them. Their Chesapeake Crab chips are my other favorite. My friends, who came down from VA a couple of weeks ago to help with the carport project, brought me a bag. They didn't last long either. It was so nice to have a treat from home.

When we weren't at the food show, we checked out the city by way of looking at other businesses that were similar to those we have at work or those that specialized in something. Sometimes that was trying a restaurant and getting their version of Fried Green Tomatoes with Ramp Aioli. Turns out, they taste a lot like Fried Green Tomatoes with a thin mayonnaise on them. Which is pretty good since there's nothing like a mater sandwich with mayo!One of the things I learned most about going was that people are the same wherever you go. There were people who kept to themselves and get through their day and those that were sincerely wanting to speak to you and have a connection. So even though I was far from home, that part did not make me homesick.