Everyone from Governor Sonny Perdue, U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, recently-elected U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, the last remaining Hogshead Brunswick stewmaster in South Georgia, a "stew dog" and a "stew Maccaw" testify to the superiority of Georgia Brunswick stew over that made by the other state that claims origin of the stew  - the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Click on Pix for Press Release

This documentary, shot in the filmmaker's inimitable handheld, spontaneous camera style, begins with a commentary about Stan Woodward's starting out in the 1990's producing the story of Virginia Brunswick stew in which the "Stew Wars" with Georgia was mentioned. We then move into the body of this film when the narrator says that "It is time to tell the Georgia side of the story."

While shooting the Virginia Brunswick Stew documentary during the 1990's, Stan Woodward traveled through Georgia, researching the story of Georgia Brunswick stew, recording examples of the Georgia Brunswick Stew tradition that were different from the Virginia tradition for The Woodward Studio Southern Folklife and Foodways video archive. Stan had worked on the Virginia Brunswick Stew story with internationally renown folklorist, Dr. John Burrison (Georgia State University. ) It was Stan's intention to one day use this rare footage in a documentary in which he would be reunited with Dr. Burrison to reveal the folk heritage roots of Brunswick stew as a Georgia "food of necessity," connecting this deeply rooted tradition to the widespread enjoyment of Brunswick stew at family reunions, holiday celebrations, and in BBQ eateries throughout Georgia. Stan decided to tie the structure of this story to the annual cookoff held in Brunswick, GA at the annual Brunswick Stewbilee Festival, with a search into the origins of Brunswick stew in the Sea Island coastal part of the state. 

With a grant from the Georgia Council On the Arts made to Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Association, Stan was able to re-join John Burrison and build this documentary so that it features the annual Brunswick Stewbilee Festival and cookoff, connects it to the deep roots of this folk heritage foodway found in the rural farm and Sea Island culture dating back to the days of slavery, and contains the whimsy and quirky rivalry between Georgia and Virginia over the origins of the stew. With this film we come to appreciate this peculiar icon in the panoply of Southern folk heritage foodways and how it is shown to be a bi-ethnic folk heritage foodway that began as a food of necessity with deep social, historic, and cultural roots for blacks and whites in rural Georgia's folk culture.

Woodward uses the rare archival footage from the 1990's to blend this with current footage shot at the Brunswick Stewbilee in a way that effectively ties these two story elements together. Thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Brunswick,  Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce, and community corporate sponsors,the Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Association, and the Georgia Council for the Arts, this work now can be enjoyed in the art form of a documentary made for television.