Nooze Hounds: Kathleen Purvis and Tim DePeugh Talk Food in Charlotte
Episode 55
On episode 55 of the Nooze Hounds podcast, we talked to longtime Charlotte food writer Kathleen Purvis and Queen City Nerve food critic Timothy DePeugh about the state of things in Charlotte’s food scene.
Following Tim’s recent cover story, in which he found solace in the discovery of The Good Wurst Co. to get him out of a pandemic funk that found him at the end of his rope thanks to a never-ending pandemic and the depression that comes from doom-scrolling through endless posts by Charlotte food influencers.
Another topic we discussed at length: What are the responsibilities of food writers in Charlotte during a pandemic that has most restaurant owners struggling just to stay afloat?
We talk in detail about a few of Tim’s stories over the past year, so for more context and light reading:
- Sri Balaji, South Indian Soul Food, and a Peek Inside the Unhinged Mind
- Paul Verica’s Latest Venture Orto Is Consistent Until It’s Not
- The Curious Case of Optimist Hall’s Xiao Bao Charlotte
“The tots were so precisely prepared that they wore their crunch like a level-up suit of armor, tempered and seasoned with all the skill of a medieval guild. Wee fistfuls of crisp and fatty pastrami crumbles were thrown into the mix, but the pièce de résistance was the cheese,” he wrote.
“This cheese (a shade of yellow-orange so specific that Pantone has probably already assigned it a number) was caught somewhere between liquid and solid so that it lay atop the bulging mound of tots like a sitcom modesty towel.”
Hungry yet?
As for other show notes, you can find Kathleen’s books here:
- Distilling the South: A Guide to Southern Craft Liquors and the People Who Make Them
- Pecans: A Savor the South Cookbook
- Bourbon: A Savor the South Cookbook
Remember you can catch us on Spotify and other places where you find podcasts, and be sure to check out Queen City Podcast Network for a slew of other great Charlotte podcasts that aren’t quite as good as ours but pretty damn close. Find past Nooze Hounds episodes here.
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