Eat Drink Delta: A Hungry Traveler's Journey through the Soul of the South

11. Humphreys County: The Catfish Capital

225 6 11 humphreys county The Catfish Capital Catfish is the undisputed king in Belzoni. Images of this bottom feeder-turned-restaurant staple are everywhere. Wildly painted fiberglass mudcats pose in front of businesses all over downtown. A whale-size catfish sculpture rests in a shallow pond near the Catfish Capitol, a museum and visitors center. Smaller iron replicas of catfish appear to leap from the rectangular pool on the spacious lawn in front of the Humphreys County Courthouse. Catfish mania peaks in April during the World Catfish Festival, when 20,000 people cram into this town of 2,500 near the Yazoo River. Bands blare oldies rock, a Catfish Queen is crowned, spectators cheer on the catfish -eating contestants, and volunteers dish up hundreds of plates of catfish and hush puppies straight out of the massive fryers set up in the parking lot of an auto repair shop. The first festival dates to 1976, when Governor Cliff Finch proclaimed Belzoni the “Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World.” Some of the industry ’s first ponds had been built there in the mid-1960s, and within a decade Humphreys County had become the top catfish producer in the United 226 Humphreys County States. Competition from abroad and rising feed costs have slowed Delta production considerably, but the benefits of those catfish dollars are clear in this town named for eighteenth-century circus showman Giovanni Battista Belzoni. (The wealthy planter who actually founded it, Alvarez Fisk, was a fan.) At one time the settlement was called Greasy Row, for the straggle of saloons that once lined its riverbanks. The community prides itself on its collective green thumb, and it shows in the landscaping all around. Wister Gardens, seven miles north of the city, is the site of numerous weddings, wine-and-cheese fund-raisers, and cooking demonstrations. Also in the downtown area is a small museum housing artifacts from the Indian mounds of the Jaketown site a few miles north of Belzoni on Highway 7. In a residential area near the business district, Mama’s Dream World offers tours by appointment of the home of Ethel Mohamed Wright, called the Grandma Moses of Stitchery. Her intricate embroidered illustrations of rural Delta life are featured at the Smithsonian Institution. Humphreys County 227 228 Humphreys County Y The Varsity. 601 Hayden Street. 662-247-1413. A handwritten sign affixed to the take-out window of this dingy blue-andwhite dairy bar downtown reads “Pig Stand Biscuits Sold Here.” For nearly thirty-five years, the Pig Stand, a squat red cinder-block building in another location on Highway 49, packed in Belzoni residents hungry for barbecue, steak baskets, sausage biscuits, ice cream, and a never-ending supply of gossip. After Earl and Lawana Kilpatrick sold the property in 1999, the building was torn down and a McDonald’s appeared in its place. The Varsity, in operation for more than fifty years, is now owned by the Kilpatricks’ offspring and does what it can to preserve the memory of its former competition. Besides dispensing soft-serve ice cream and selling the usual burgers, barbecue, and plate lunches, they deep-fry squares of commercially prepared biscuit dough that mimic the sinfully rich deep-fried ones the Pig Stand used to sell. Also on their menu is another Pig Stand favorite: the “Sutt’s Special,” named for a regular customer, James “Sutt” Sudduth, who ran a tractor company. This breakfast alternative to the Egg McMuffin is not for the faint of heart—it’s an omelet with ham, bacon, lettuce, and tomato on a jumbo mayonnaise-slathered bun. In a town where independent restaurants and businesses struggle harder than ever to compete with chains, these simple homages to the café society of a former era are appreciated more than ever. Hoover Sauce Y Lee Hong Grocery. 1294 Main Street. Louise. 662-836-5131. Lee Hong Grocery is one of the few surviving businesses in downtown Louise (population: 300). Farmers regularly stop in for snacks, cigarettes, or maybe a bottle of Colt 45. But now and then, culinary-minded tourists will make a special trip here, hoping to score a bottle of Hoover Sauce. This salty-sweet, soy sauce–based elixir has had a cult following ever since Garden and Gun magazine wrote about it several years back. Nowadays, its creator, Hoover Lee, can often be found in his general store, packaging orders for Hoover Sauce...