Roll out the red carpet! The 11^th annual Beaufort International Film Festival will soon be in full swing with filmmakers, directors, screen writers, movie stars and lots of film-loving fans. Food has always been a key ingredient on the big screen. The recipes this week celebrate filmmaker Julie Dash's critically acclaimed movie, Daughters of the Dust, and feature Gullah-Geechee inspired dishes from our own South Carolina sea islands.

I had the most fun with my column in the last issue! Thank you, Beaufort folks, for emailing, calling and stopping me in the grocery store to reminisce about fatback, streak o'lean and souse meat. More often than not, in these Eastern North Carolina foodie conversations, the one thing I heard over and over again was, “You know what I really miss? Chicken and Dumplings. I never learned how to make them like my grandmother used to.”

When I talk about going home or people from home, I usually mean Wilson, North Carolina. After twenty-five years of living in South Carolina, I'm learning that home folks to me are actually people from up and down the eastern stretch of North Carolina's highway I-95. People who have a bit of vinegar and pepper in their blood.