FoodieCuties

THE BRASS SISTERS.

These walking sexpots of Massachusetts have more than 114 years of experience between them. Their James Beard-nominated cookbook, Heirloom Cooking, offers up a treasure trove of recipes only your great aunt Mildred in Gary, Indiana would remember. Pineapple Upside Down Cake? Blueberry Buckle? Indian Pudding? This is the stuff of church suppers and family reunions. It doesn’t get any sexier than that.

LIKES: real butter, bundt pans, spectacles

DISLIKES: contact lenses, skinny jeans, skim milk

MARGOT MCCORMACK.

Perhaps the superstar chef of Nashville, Margot is cool enough to have a restaurant named after her: Margot Cafe & Bar, of course. When she’s not dabbling in the sturdy, peasant flavors of Southern France and Italy, being a James Beard semifinalist, or chillaxing with her partner Heather, you’ll probably find her spending Sundays whipping up delightful brunches for all the Nashville hipsters.

LIKES: kickball, artisan cheese, rockabilly

DISLIKES: canned black olives, DOMA, ignorance

BRANDON & SUSAN POLLARD.

This Texas power couple is changing the landscape of North Texas honey—one hive at a time. Whether they’re rescuing fellow neighbors with bee infestations, selling their Extra Virgin Zip Code Honey (great for allergies!), or keepin’ it real at the Dallas Farmers Market on the weekend, you know these guys are “sweet” on each other. (Sorry, had to.)

LIKES: Winnie the Pooh, farmers markets, micro-apiaries.

DISLIKES: Allergies, pasteurization, Colony Collapse Disorder.

BONUS: easy to stalk with a real, live telephone number. Please contact Brandon & Susan Pollard at 214-826-8696 for more information.

submitted by Andrea Glanzer of Dallas, TX.

WENDELL BERRY.

This brainiac grandpa hottie has been around since the Great Depression and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. When he’s not tilling the earth at his farm in Henry County, Kentucky, he’s out giving lectures, criticizing Christians for their complacency in gradual earth raping, and writing gentle pastoral poetry. The original grandpappy of organic farming and food writing, he could beat Michael Pollan in an arm wrestle any day.

LIKES: husbandry, rural communities, Amish agrarian values

DISLIKES: eroding topsoil, hubris, disappearance of traditional agrarian life

JOHN CURRENCE.

The king of Oxford, MS. When he’s not running his four restaurants, curing his own bacon, blogging for the ultimate Southern magazine Garden & Gun, or bird hunting, he’s probably sitting on his throne eating moon pies and washing ‘em down with a cold can of RC cola.

LIKES: regional fare, Southern Foodways Alliance, Ole Miss

DISLIKES: imitation bacon, Cracker Barrel restaurants, racism

SCOTT BOSWELL.

Okay, technically, Scott Boswell is just a chef, but I’m sure he’s got an urban garden somewhere in his New Orleans home! And, he’s obviously got good taste in film as he named his Nawlins restaurants Stella! and Stanley after the Tennessee Williams play and Brando masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire. Swoon…

LIKES: po boys, humidity, cocktails before 3pm

DISLIKES: hurricanes, tourists, dilettantes

SEAN BROCK.

This Executive Chef at the acclaimed McCrady’s Restaurant in Charleston owns a small farm on Wadmalaw Island, off the coast of South Carolina.

LIKES: heirloom seeds, blogging, Spanish moss.

DISLIKES: The Notebook, Huguenots, low-grade grits

BONUS: Easy to stalk! http://seanbrock.wordpress.com/ and http://twitter.com/hseanbrock

JOEL SALATIN.

Joel Salatin was featured on the documentary Food, Inc., is BFFs with food writer Michael Pollan, and currently has a waiting list to volunteer on his farm in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. This author, lecturer, and holistic farmer is probably one of the most public farmer figures out there…and dreamiest. Sorry, girls, he’s taken! (Married to his high school sweetheart…such a farmer cliché.)

LIKES: pigs in the mud, oversized eyewear, Community Supported Agriculture programs

DISLIKES: ironic Virginia is for lovers T-shirts, McDonald’s, factory farming

FRANK REESE, JR.

Frank Reese, Jr. runs the Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch somewhere in the Kansas prairie. This former Marlboro Man model is the guardian angel and savior of heritage breed turkeys in America. And, yes, he’s a bachelor! Name drop Standard of Perfection (the bible of the American Poultry Association) and mention you’ve got some Norman Kardosh Narragansetts in your backyard…

LIKES: Standard Bred Poultry Institute, flannel, the FFA

DISLIKES: Chicken McNuggets, genetic engineering, Pilgrim’s Pride