A Global Table

By: The Local Palate

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Kyle Tibbs Jones’ feelings about food are anything but muted. A conversation with the cofounder of The Bitter Southerner is a conversation of joy and passion. She shares the details of a Thai meal she had a few days earlier in New York City with the same enthusiasm as when she describes her grandmother’s sticky lemon cake, her obsession with rice, and a Bitter Southerner piece on okra.

“Eating is creative and food is creative,” she says. “And being happy around food and having enough food—there are all these layers of social justice and peace. We all eat around a global table.”

Jones’ childhood had a simpler flavor. The oldest of three, she was raised in Dalton, Georgia, by a dad who worked for the state and a mom who herded the kids, keeping the house together and the meals on schedule.

“My mom made four or five things,” Jones recalls. “Mexican chili bake from the recipe on the macaroni box. Tuna casserole with cheddar cheese. Country fried steak or chicken. Pot roast on Sundays after church.” And for her birthday, always beef stroganoff (featuring canned cream of mushroom soup).

While she admits to still craving her mother’s tuna casserole and beef stroganoff, Jones’ first encounter with one of her best-loved comfort dishes happened after she’d left Dalton for big-city life in Atlanta.

alt HIGH RES Kyle Tibbs Jones The Bitter Southerner Erik Meadows Photography

“In the early ’90s, when I was first introduced to Country Captain, I fell instantly in love. It became the dish for Christmas Eve and so, so many dinner parties,” says Jones. “Back then, it was presented as Southern, maybe originating in a Junior League cookbook. Of course, it came to us from Indian culture—another recipe that’s been misclaimed and co-opted, but also another chance to recognize and honor a Southern recipe’s origins in other cultures and countries.”

She recalls an Atlanta supper club gathering she hosted with Country Captain on the table. “My friend Shireen Herrington came early to teach me how her Persian family makes rice. That night, instead of serving Country Captain over regular fluffy white rice, we served Shireen’s crispy tahdig. I now make a tahdig every time.”

And Jones notes (passionately, of course): “The mashup of Indian, Persian, and Southern all makes for a lovely dinner…and a lovely life.”