The Good Southern Women Interview with LaMara Davidson
On cooking collards, Seoul food, the soft life, and being polite only when it's called for
GSW is a questionnaire-based interview series featured in F I E L D T R I P. It focuses on women-identifying artists of the South. This time, we feature chef LaMara Davidson.
Late last summer I was lucky to meet Chef LaMara Davidson at the Hambidge Center, an artists’ residency in the North Georgia mountains. She was only around for a quick weekend stay, but she’d been there before, and it felt like she was a regular in the best sense of the word: Someone known and beloved, someone everyone liked to have around, someone who made the place feel like a capital-P Place just by being there. I liked her instantly.
LaMara spent most of her formative years in Atlanta, and lives there again today. She was an executive chef for the Marriott Corporation for many years, and in 2020 launched her own product line, Cornbread and Kimchi, which nods to her parents: Korean emigré mom, Black Alabamian dad. She was a contestant on the Food Network’s Chopped last August, and works with CookUnity, an Atlanta-based chef collective offering ready-to-eat meals nationwide. (They deliver almost everywhere, y’all!) Think BBQ Tofu 'Steaks' with Kimchi Collard Greens and Creamy Mac & Cheese, or Korean Braised Short Ribs with Sesame Green Beans, or LaMama’s meatloaf, her bestseller.
LaMara will be teaching a “Seoul Food” workshop at Hambidge this summer, Sunday, June 2, to Friday, June 7, in which you’ll learn how to make the perfect fried chicken, Korean BBQ, all kinds of banchan (Korean side dishes), and more. And the future may hold a cookbook, a Cornbread and Kimchi tour (please come through Nashville, LaMara; I think the food/restaurant community would welcome you with open arms and eager bellies!), and more. I can’t wait to see more, and eat more, from chef LaMara Davidson.
How does the South inform your artwork?
Today, as a chef my work is greatly impacted by the South in many different ways. My father was born in Alabama so my first memories of Southern cooking were of my grandmother. My Grandma Ella always had greens, turnips, and cornbread on the stove. Whether it be collards, mustard, or turnip greens, they'd be around. What's most memorable is the way she prepared them. After taking her time cleaning them she'd put them in the pot whole, uncut with some fatback or salt pork. Always eaten with a slice of cornbread. Divine. A purist.
Additionally, I was raised mostly in Atlanta. My Korean-born mother moved my sisters and me to Atlanta in the early 80s. It was here in Atlanta where I came of age. It's also where my palate was developed. Atlanta has an extensive Korean community that was very much a part of my early development. Buford Highway was the place to get everything you needed or craved Korean. Atlanta was the best of both worlds for me being Black and Korean. It's where my love for food and appreciation for Southern hospitality was birthed.
Tell me about a Southern artist you identify with or admire, and why.
Radcliffe Bailey. He was born up north, like myself, but raised in Atlanta. He was an artist who shared his rich family history and love for the South through his works. I have instinctively done the same. He was always ahead of the curve and was not limited to one art form. I remember being at his first show back in the early 90s at the Tula Gallery here in Atlanta and being stumped. The work was powerful and haunting in ways that I wasn't ready for at 20 years old. I want my meals to have the same effect. The part that takes you back to a place you remember or leaves you wanting more, is what I want when people experience what I do. He had a show called "Memory is Medicine" years ago that summed it all up. Southern cooking has the same effect. Seoul food is how I describe my cuisine, and it tends to do the same thing. Something old that most Americans have had with Southern cooking ( which was derived from African cuisine) and something new with the Korean food that I grew up eating. Both cuisines are considered comfort foods and have a rich history.
Growing up, how did you conform to Southern codes of femininity?
My mother remarried a Korean man soon after we moved to Atlanta so it's hard for me to say if it's my coming up in the South or my being brought up in a Korean household with strict customs aided in being the woman I am today. Patriarchy knows no boundaries.
Conforming in general has never been my thing, even as a kid. I often fought with my mother over it as a teenager. However, I realized as I got older I was very much the woman or girl who served others before myself. That has changed slightly in the past couple of years. “Fifty is fabulous” is not just a catchphrase!
I'm also not a woman who would ever pursue a man and wasn't even allowed to date until after high school. I think this has protected me in some ways but, handicapped me in others. The idea of being a "good Southern woman " is a trap. I have found that over the years it's just about being a good person that matters at the end of the day. Pure of heart.
Growing up, how did you push back against Southern codes of femininity?
I never believed that boys or men were better, stronger, or smarter than girls or women. I have always been someone who has excelled at whatever I put my focus into. Whether it was racing the boys in PE in elementary school or working in male-dominated industries as a concert promoter or chef in corporate America. You get what you put into anything you do. Luckily for me, I've pursued things that I was naturally gifted in. Whether it’s bringing people together or cooking, it’s so much easier when you love what you do.
In what ways are you no longer Southern?
I don't care about what people think of me anymore. Meaning, I choose to speak my truth and I don't carry the burden of being polite to those that aren't being polite to me. Personally or professionally. Always respectful though.
What is a specific place in the South where you feel at home?
Atlanta. I left for 20 years only to come back and accept that this is not just geography, but my home.
Tell me about a Southern expression that
a. You dislike
b. You love, or
c. That you’ve used in your work
"Bless your heart" is one of those loaded expressions that makes me look at the person saying it with an eyebrow raised. "Are they being sincere or sarcastic?" is my thought every time.
What do you like about living in the South?
Things are slower in the South and people take the time to listen. Southerners have a natural rhythm that people from up North often miss. I spent more than a dozen years living in New York and I'm grateful for the tools that I gained there. I developed a tough skin that I know serves me to this day. However, the soft life is what I seek now. Real connections with like-minded people, the Blue Ridge mountains, days on the Chattahoochee, and quick drives to blue waters when necessary.
Her brand and product line, Cornbread and Kimchi
Follow Cornbread and Kimchi on Instagram: @cornbreadnkimchi
Follow LaMara on Instagram: @cheflamara
LaMara at CookUnity
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