26 May 2026
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Stretching from Canada to Alabama, Appalachia is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, making it a standout destination for food. From chicken and dumplings to pickled ramps to apple stack cake, the region’s cuisine varies by state, but is rooted in the land and the resourcefulness of its people. Foraging, farming, preserving and curing are just some of the ways generations of cooks have made the most of the ingredients available to them.
In Tennessee, chefs at these MICHELIN restaurants are continuing those traditions and keeping the heart of Appalachia at the center of the plate.
Foraged Foods
At Lunch, Chef/owner Mallory Grimm Tubbs’ homey restaurant and market in Sewanee, the weekly menu doesn’t just reflect winter, spring, summer and fall in Middle Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau. The ever-changing lineup captures the fleeting seasons within seasons, like nettle soup in mid-spring or chanterelle and millet risotto in late summer.Tubbs works with a network of foragers (including herself and her staff) who comb the area for edible finds. “We're always looking to incorporate wild food into the kitchen,” she says. “It’s a fun, interesting marker of the way that seasons can change on a micro level, week to week.” Dishes like salads topped with pickled ramps and pork chops with local mulberries celebrate the land’s bounty. “There's a reliance on nature in Appalachian cooking,” she says. “I love feeling close to the seasons and nature. Feeding people through that is really special and builds on that connection.”
Smoked Meats
Charcuterie boards are so common on menus that it’s easy to overlook them, but that would be a mistake at The Restaurant at RT Lodge in Maryville. Executive chef Trevor Stockton’s ever-changing assortment of dry-cured and smoked meats, pickles and crusty sourdough is made entirely from scratch, from pork rillettes to lemon-pickled turnips.Stockton takes pride in making all of his charcuterie and continuing the Appalachian tradition of preserving meat, much like his great-grandfather did on his Tennessee farm. “He had a canning house that was dug into the side of the mountain and the smokehouse where they did all of their smoked meats and hung hams and sausage,” Stockton says. “The food that you see on our plates isn’t what my great-grandfather ate, but we use that old-school way of curing and smoking.”
Stockton’s family ties go deeper on the menu: He uses Berkshire and Mangalica hogs raised on his parents’ farm in Gainesboro. “Serving someone ham that I aged for two or three years from a hog that my parents raised is a pretty cool thing,” he says.
Vegetable Side Dishes
Throughout the region, vegetables are typically eaten alongside proteins like pork chops and catfish, but that makes them no less important on the plate. Vegetables are prepared with just as much care as main dishes, and in some cases, the sides steal the spotlight, like at Arnold’s Country Kitchen, a family-run meat-and-three institution in Nashville.A meat-and-three, commonly found in the American South, is a casual restaurant where you choose a protein (typically comfort food favorites like meatloaf or fried chicken) with three vegetables. At Arnold’s, the menu of sides reads like the ultimate Thanksgiving buffet: green beans, mashed potatoes, corn pudding and baked squash, to name a few. First-timers might find it impossible to choose, but owner Khalil Arnold, who took over the business from his late father, Jack, says the restaurant’s turnip greens deserve top billing.
Greens were the first thing Kahlil remembers prepping as a kid. “I remember going with my dad to the farmers’ market in Nashville around 6:00 a.m.,” he says. “Then we’d come back, and I’d remove the leaves from the stems. Literally, for several hours, that’s all I would do.” Using Jack’s recipe, the Arnold’s team simmers turnip greens for hours with a ham hock and other ingredients (like horseradish and red pepper flakes), until tender and deeply flavored.
Even with a large menu, Kahlil is dedicated to maintaining the level of quality customers have expected since 1983. “My father grew up in the mountains in Asheville, North Carolina. He had to grow all his own veggies,” he says. “And it showed because the vegetables we serve at the restaurant aren’t like regular sides. They can stand on their own.”
Preserved Foods
“One of the things we like to say around here is ‘Land Is Luxury,’” says Nate Leonard, executive chef of January restaurant at Southall Farm and Inn in Franklin, Tennessee. The bucolic 425-acre property embodies that ethos with its cottages and guest rooms, terraced gardens and orchard, and January’s elegant, hyperseasonal fare.With an entire farm — as well as greenhouses and apiaries — to provide ingredients and inspiration, January’s menu is an ode to produce at its peak, whether guests are enjoying it in or out of season. Southall has an on-site preservation kitchen run by Chef Richard Jones to extend the life of their harvests and fruits and vegetables from area farms.
Jones is currently turning thousands of pounds of strawberries into jelly and freezing them for future dishes. “Every time you come to Southall and you're eating strawberry, peach or blueberry jelly, that is from peak-season preservation,” says Leonard. Meanwhile, at January, Leonard is using fresh berries in hamachi crudo with house-made hot sauce and lemon balm. “Appalachian cooking is identifying what is in season and trying to figure out how to extend it as long as possible,” he says.
Cornbread
One look at the wood-burning hearth and folk art on the walls, and it’s clear that Nashville’s Audrey restaurant is a love letter to Appalachia. Chef Sam Jett sources 90 to 95 percent of his ingredients locally, with the rest from the Appalachian Mountains. He uses them to paint an edible picture of his native Tennessee, like grilled Bucksnort trout with Benton’s bacon, watercress, green garlic and ramps. But Jett also has an experimental side, and even the most traditional-sounding dishes, like cornbread, aren’t as straightforward as they seem.
Made with buttermilk and baked in a smoking-hot skillet, cornbread is essential to Appalachian meals, no matter what else is on the table. Jett’s version highlights the best regional ingredients — Cruze Farm buttermilk, Bloody Butcher corn (a red-kerneled heirloom variety) from Sequatchie Cove Farm, and lard from Bear Creek Farm — through a process that’s anything but basic.
After tinkering with multiple versions of the recipe in the restaurant’s on-site culinary lab, he finally landed on his favorite. Jett ferments the batter for two days, similar to making sourdough, to create a tangy flavor and better texture. He sizzles it in a skillet to develop a crispy crust and finishes it in the hearth. “It's a little smoky, a little toasty and more flavorful than most folks are used to, because the corn we use is naturally high in oils,” he says.
His experiments with corn don’t stop there: He’s working with area farmers to revive an old Southern variety and developing an heirloom corn syrup in the lab. “I'm trying to look toward what Appalachia means in the future,” he says. “We are here to celebrate Appalachian culture and philosophy, but we have a lab for a reason — to find out what’s new or ask, ‘What else can we do with this?’”
Hero image: 425-acres of hyperseasonal fare. © Southall Farm and Inn/January
