How do you like your livermush — for breakfast or for lunch? Livermush, a loaf often made with pork liver, cornmeal and spices, is one of the foods considered in the new book Get It While It's Hot: Gas Station, Roadside and Convenience Cuisine in the U.S. South. It's from LSU Press and co-edited by Casey Kayser. Kayser is an associate professor of English and director of the Medical Humanities Program at the University of Arkansas.
Kayser: We really, with the book, tried to focus on places that have kind of a unique eating experience that are a little bit different than the sit-down restaurant. So we look at the phenomena of gas station food in the South, which is really somewhat unique, as well as eateries inside gas stations, roadside cafes and convenience cuisine sort of more generally.
Kellams: I think if people are not familiar, they may hear "gas station food" and think it's got to be barbecue or something like that.
Kayser: Yes, it is. In a lot of places in America, you don't walk into a gas station and see a hot case full of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, potato logs, all of the various kinds of things that we see. But we also see unique fare too. An interesting statistic is that 61% of gas stations are owned by immigrants. Some places, they'll say that the best place to get Indian food in town is actually in a gas station. That's a really unique thing — you might find food that you might not expect.
Kellams: How do you find these places?
Kayser: A lot of word of mouth. It has been such a fun project. As a professor, we often write about very scholarly niche topics, but I think this is a topic that has really appealed to many different types of readers. When the topic comes up, people are so excited — they want to tell me about their very favorite place or their memories of getting gas station biscuits with their grandfather growing up on Sunday mornings. My co-editors and I have all lived in southern states and traveled between those states. They're both from Mississippi. My parents live in Mississippi now. So we were familiar with some of the same places that are known for having good food.
Kellams: I know that especially if you're traveling through South Arkansas, there will be these roadside — not necessarily gas stations, but these roadside stands. And if you know the right person, they'll say, if you're in Lake Village or you're in this place, you want to get great tamales right there at this place. And the hours could be Tuesday, noon to 4. Wednesday closed. Thursday —
Kayser: Yes, sometimes they have hit-and-miss hours. But yes, the Delta tamale is something that many people are familiar with. If you drive through the Delta, you'll find lots of great roadside places. A lot of gas stations in the Delta as well that have food.
Kellams: The act of eating is more than just eating, and I think that's reflected in the book.
Kayser: The scholar who wrote our afterword, Psyche Williams-Forson, says that food may not speak, but it does tell stories. That is a lot of where we're coming from with the book — thinking about what stories does food in the South tell? We've also very much tried to be mindful that the invention and inventiveness of the cuisine and the pleasure that we get from southern cuisine always exists alongside the history of slavery and racial segregation, poverty and hunger. We're very mindful that when we think about it, we have to think about these issues as well.
Kellams: Do you get the feeling from the contributors and scholars that there is no one kind of food — that it's just sort of this gumbo?
Kayser: Yes, absolutely. We have an essay on livermush in there, which apparently is a North Carolina staple made of pork liver and cornstarch and spices. The scholar who writes that essay talks about how immigration patterns would have sort of developed that type of food in that particular area. So yes, lots of cultural borrowing and sharing.
Kellams: On the cover, there's a sign that says "gizzards and livers." I think if you didn't grow up in a certain time or a certain place, gizzards might be alien to you.
Kayser: Yes. But it is something that is often at gas stations. In fact, one of the people my co-editor interviewed — she asked why gas station food, and he said, "Because they don't make gizzards at home anymore."
Kellams: Let me ask you about editing this, because you might be dealing with some foods or some ingredients or some geographical places that you're not familiar with. What's the editing process like?
Kayser: We're so grateful to our contributors. They are so smart and their essays are all really interesting, so it wasn't that difficult of a process as it can be sometimes. We really had to rely on their expertise about these places and traditions among the communities that they're in. It really has been a fun process and it's been educational for me as well to learn about these different places and these different foods.
Kellams: Last question. I'm going to give you an unlimited amount of gasoline money and the car of your choice. You can drive anywhere tomorrow to go to one of these places and get food. Where are you going?
Kayser: I would say, especially if people are looking for local places, the Pig Trail Bypass Country Cafe is one that always comes up — they are known for their Hush Burger, so I would recommend that. And a lot of people also like the Hillbilly Hideout in the Workman's gas station in Ozark. The Ozark Cafe also always comes up in these conversations.
Casey Kayser is an associate professor of English and director of the Medical Humanities Program at the University of Arkansas. She is one of three editors of Get It While It's Hot: Gas Station, Roadside and Convenience Cuisine in the U.S. South from LSU Press. There will be a virtual book launch Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. on Facebook — find it by going to the LSU Facebook page. Kayser will be conducting that book launch with her co-editors, Shelley Ingram from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Constance Bailey from Georgia State University. Our conversation took place in the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
