Join Tusk & Trotter and Special Collections for "The Homestead Series"

Poster by Catherine Wallack

May's Homestead Series event is a great way to celebrate Arkansas Heritage Month and support a local business.

The Homestead Series: Celebrating and Preserving the Culinary History of the Natural State continues at 6 p.m. Monday, May 18, with the creator of the Southern Fried blog, Rex Nelson.

The theme is “Food Culture of the Delta,” and the tasting menu includes fried catfish with Arkansas rice pilaf and house made tartar sauce, a crawfish boil with red potatoes, house made sausage, corn and mushrooms, and a sweet peach dessert tamale served with watermelon sorbet.

An Arkadelphia native, Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas' Independent Colleges and Universities in Little Rock. He is a regular columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and appears regularly on various radio shows. Nelson describes his blog as tackling “ruminations on barbecue, politicking, football, frog gigging, trotlining, blues playing, horse racing, boxing, bird hunting, movie watching, crappie eating and other major issues of the day.” Through his long career in government, journalism and public affairs, he has become a leading expert on Arkansas history and Southern culture. 

Earlier this year, the University of Arkansas Libraries’ Special Collections Department teamed up with the award winning Bentonville restaurant, Tusk & Trotter, for this special series. Each event features a presentation on the extensive role food plays in shaping Arkansas culture, followed by a themed dinner, complementing the topic and prepared by Chef Rob Nelson. The events, all held at Tusk & Trotter restaurant, benefit Special Collections’ publication Arkansauce: The Journal of Arkansas Foodways.

Arkansauce is published once a year by Special Collections and each issue features a special guest editor. Last year’s issue was edited by Kat Robinson, the communications manager for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism’s tourism division and a popular food and travel writer. Kane Webb of Little Rock is the guest editor for the forthcoming 2015 issue, which will hit mailboxes soon. To learn more about Special Collections or Arkansauce, contact Tim Nutt, head of Special Collections, at 479-575-8443 or email specoll@uark.edu.

Tickets to the events are $50 each and $10 from each ticket purchased will be donated to Arkansauce. Seating is limited, so contact Tusk & Trotter at 479-269-4494 or lindsey@tuskandtrotter.com to make your reservation. And check out Tusk & Trotter’s facebook page and events page for their latest updates.

Still upcoming in The Homestead Series: July 27, “Exploring Arkansas Orchards and Vineyards”; Sept. 28, “Tracing the Roots of Arkansas’ Restaurant Culture” with food blogger Kat Robinson; and Nov. 23, “Snout to Tail.”