John T. Edge on House of Smoke, Southern Identity, and the Stories We Inherit
What happens when the story you inherited no longer explains who you are?
photo by Ashleigh Burke Coleman
In this episode of Retire Southern, James Lewis sits down with author, food writer, and Southern cultural historian John T. Edge to discuss his memoir House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home. The conversation explores family, addiction, identity, Southern history, and the lifelong process of confronting inherited narratives.
Best known as the creator and host of the National Emmy Award winning television series TrueSouth on SEC Network, ESPN, Disney, and Hulu, John T. has spent decades documenting the people, places, and foodways that shape the modern South. But this conversation moves beyond food and television into something more personal. The tension between who we are, who we were told to be, and the stories we unconsciously carry forward.
The conversation explores:
Childhood trauma and the opening scene of House of Smoke
The idea that many of us are “running” without realizing it
Inherited Southern identity and the stories we are handed
The founding of the Southern Foodways Symposium and Southern Foodways Alliance
The reopening of Willie Mae’s Scotch House after Hurricane Katrina
Booker Wright, Lusco’s, and unintended consequences
Why “sometimes the change comes for us”
What to carry forward from our past and what to leave behind
At one point, John T. reflects:
“You inherit something from the place and the people you know… And then what do you do with them? How do you interrogate them? What good do you do in the world?”
And later:
“I think part of our responsibility as we grow older is to figure out what to carry forward and what to leave behind. That’s the whole gig, man.”
This is not simply a conversation about memoir writing or Southern food culture. It is a conversation about identity, accountability, purpose, family, and the stories we live until we stop long enough to examine them.
In This Episode
Why John T. began House of Smoke with the image of running barefoot into the dark
How Oxford, Mississippi changed the course of his life
The emotional cost of leadership and public reckoning
Why meaningful work can still create unintended consequences
The role memory, family, and food play in shaping identity
How storytelling can help us better understand ourselves
About John T. Edge
John T. Edge is the author of House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home and The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, which was named one of the best books of the year by NPR and Publishers Weekly. A multiple James Beard Award winner for writing and publication excellence, Edge has earned national recognition for his contributions to food journalism and Southern storytelling. He writes and hosts the National Emmy Award winning television series TrueSouth on SEC Network, ESPN, Disney, and Hulu, and writes a restaurant column for Garden & Gun.
Edge founded the Southern Foodways Symposium in 1998 and later helped launch the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. He currently serves the University of Mississippi as a teacher, writer in residence, and director of the Mississippi Lab, while also mentoring students in the University of Georgia’s low residency MFA program in narrative nonfiction.
He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife, the artist Blair Hobbs.
Listen to the Full Conversation
Read the Companion Essay
Order a Signed Copy of House of Smoke
Prefer Video?
Never Miss an Update from Retire Southern
Rooted in the South. Driven by Purpose. Built for Living.