If you find your way down South this summer, you’ll want to pack a copy of John T. Edge’s Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South. This is essential glovebox material for the hungry traveler who can’t stomach the fast-food buffet that passes for roadside eating on our major interstates. Southern food guru Edge has traveled the backroads and side streets of cities and towns from East Texas to Virginia in search of the best and most storied chicken shacks, fish camps, burger joints and barbecue stands, and he presents them here with their glorious histories and, often, a recipe or two.

To earn mention in this pantheon, Edge writes, an eatery must have been in business for 20 years (with a few exceptions) and be a vital part of the community. Along the way he introduces a host of colorful locals — like Ernest Mickler, author of White Trash Cooking; Flossie Mae, the crazy curbhop from Atlanta’s drive-in, the Varsity; and the real-life Duncan Hines of Kentucky. He also relates stories galore, from tales of barbecue sauce inventions to the origin of the Mississippi Delta’s hot tamale tradition, to the story of how the New Orleans’ poor boy sandwich got its name. You’ll find dozens of unique dining destinations for wherever you’re traveling in the South, from the simple and great, like Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken north of Memphis, to the unusual and remarkable, such as Jacksonville’s Middle Eastern sandwich shop The Sheik, which serves a fine tabouli omelet. Inevitably many stops on this funky culinary tour may be diminished from its former glory, but the stories, Edge convinces us, add a vital element to the dining experience and the patchwork history of the South. He has miles of meals to prove it.

Order a copy at TurnRow Book Co.