“Drink, drink, brother drink. Leave your worries at home!” One of Germany’s favorite beer-drinking songs sets the mood for Oktoberfest, the annual celebration of beer, food, and frivolity that started in Munich and has spread throughout the world.

Criss Smiley is the kind of guy who will do anything to make his community happy—including bringing raw steaks out to customers’ cars so they could still choose their speciality cut when the restaurant’s interior was closed during the 2020 lockdown. His corner shop in Pelham, Smiley Brothers Specialty Foods, offers butcher-cut meat, an extensive cheese and wine selection, and other gourmet foods like crackers, jellies, and sauces. But these aren’t your run-of-the-mill condiments. The team makes several of the items in house, including tomato jam, pickles, salad dressings (they sell their ranch by the bottle), fermented hot sauce, and pimento cheese made with peppers grown just for Smiley Brothers.

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Alabama’s prosperous Black Belt has taken note of the wise words and utilized the regions’ local treasures to produce some of the state’s most delicious flavors from sweet confections to savory sausages. Named for its rich, dark, nutrient-rich soil, the 23 counties wrap the state’s midsection like a belt, tying together Alabama’s Civil Rights history and a celebration of southern tradition.

This could be a story for the ages: Girl meets boy. Girl dates boy. Girl bakes very yummy cookies. Those cookies help ease the blow when she breaks off the relationship. Actually, it’s the real story behind The Breakup Cookie, the confection with a cult following that’s the signature sweet at Church Street Coffee and Books in Mountain Brook’s Crestline Village.

It’s not often that Nick Saban meets you at the door to a restaurant, even if it is just a full-sized cardboard cutout inside the entrance to The Historic Waysider Restaurant in downtown Tuscaloosa. The multiple national championship-winning coach is just one of the Alabama Crimson Tide legends honored at one of Tuscaloosa’s oldest restaurants, which also doubles as a shrine to Alabama football.

The sweets are sprinkled with smiles for visitors to Unless U Scoops, from the person who greets you at the door to the ice cream shop, to the fellow who serves your order, and the woman at the cash register. The employees are students at Unless U Academy, a non-profit that provides long-term education and training for adults with special needs including autism, Down syndrome, and traumatic brain injury.

Fact: Few things in life are better than Alabama barbecue. The North Alabama Barbecue Trail has many mouth-watering options, but here are a few of our faves to get started with.

If you’re looking for a new place to grab a drink, then you need to add Busted Oak Bourbon Society in Albertville to the top of your list. A hidden gem in a refurbished downtown area, Busted Oak offers a casual atmosphere with plenty of elegance and sophistication—and maybe just a touch of intrigue, as well.

Menus at so many restaurants these days list the local farms and fisheries that supply their produce and meat. But the menu at The Hope Farm goes beyond that. It tells you what the restaurant itself grew for tonight’s meal. Situated on 1.3 acres off U.S. 98 in Fairhope, the establishment is both a farm and a fine-dining restaurant with a wine bar. Many of the ingredients in the dishes are grown onsite in raised outdoor beds or in a hydroponic system built into a recycled shipping container.

Home-grown food engenders deep pride in Alabama. Restaurant menus name-check local farmers and fishers, and scores of local pop-up markets connect home cooks with the people who actually grew the family’s dinner. Alabama dogs can also do the eat-local thing, with biscuits, cakes, jerky, and other treats made in the Yellowhammer State, often from locally produced vegetables, eggs, and honey. We’ve fetched a few for you, and for the good booooy! or good girrrrl! in your life. 

At the Top O’ the River restaurants in Anniston, Gadsden, and Lake Guntersville, you can get your U.S. farm-raised catfish fried or broiled, in filets or whole. They’re among Alabama’s stops on the Catfish Trail, a promotion by the Catfish Institute trade group to highlight the industry in five southern states that collectively produce nearly all of the 324 million pounds of catfish farmed nationwide.

Growing up, hand-spun milkshakes were a special-occasion treat for “people of a certain age,” like me. (My teenagers call us “old.”) Scoops of ice cream, splashes of milk, and maybe some enhancements would be added to large metal cups and blended under a fast-spinning rod. Some would be poured into a glass and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. The rest would arrive in the frosty blending cup, a bonus.

As it turns out, delicious BBQ is a perfect reason for the entire family to get out of the house and celebrate the end of summer. Gather your family and friends on August 28 to enjoy good music, Alabama’s best BBQ and fun activities for all ages!

Once upon a time I was convinced Georgia peaches were the best in the world. I lived in the heart of Georgia peach country for nearly 15 years—several of those included working in a newspaper bureau that covered Peach and Houston counties—and I adored the juicy sweetness of a tree-ripened Georgia peach. Then I moved to Alabama.

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Most heirloom tomatoes look nothing like the uniform, mass-produced red orbs sold in groceries. For starters, they’re a rainbow of colors—yellow, orange, pink, red, green, and purple. Some have more ridges and folds than a Shar-Pei puppy, or bear cosmetic imperfections.  

For the perfect roasted whole chicken—one that will convince your partner to propose or that will leave your mother-in-law pleading for your cooking secrets—fire up a hair dryer before sticking the bird in the oven. Using the grooming device to dry the outside of a chicken is a quick-fire way to ensure crisp skin and juicy meat, says Kelsey Barnard Clark—a caterer, restaurateur, and “Top Chef” television cooking contest winner—in her new book, “Southern Grit.”

Curious about a restaurant you’ve never tried in the Huntsville or Birmingham areas? Or maybe you’re looking for an excuse to return to an old favorite. Restaurant Week is your jam. Created to promote locally-owned establishments, Restaurant Week showcases all types of cuisine, from tacos and tapas to premium steaks and seafood. It’s in its 10th year in the Rocket City and 12th in the Magic City. 

Not many cities have a signature hot dog. There’s Chicago (poppy seed bun, relish, pickles, tomatoes), Detroit (essentially a Coney Island dog with chili, mustard, raw onion), and New York (relish, sauerkraut, brown mustard). Then there’s the Birmingham dog, or as it’s been called through the years in numerous hot dog stands owned by Greek immigrants and their offspring, the “Special Dog.”