June 2005 Press Release:

On Sunday, June 26th at 5 PM, Georgia Public Broadcasting will present Brunswick Stew: Georgia Named Her; Georgia Claims Her - the story of the folk heritage roots of a beloved Georgia foodway that dates back to the days when stews cooked in black washpots fed farm families all across Georgia as well as African American slaves on the Sea Islands.

Starting with an overview of the work of Stan Woodward who documented the folk heritage foodway tradition of Brunswick stew in the tobacco country of Southside Virginia from 1993 to 1998, the Georgia story of Brunswick stew is contrasted with the Virginia version of the stew centered in Brunswick County, Virginia. While the Brunswick County residents have long paid homage to the legendary origins of the stew by a camp cook named Jimmy Matthews (who is reported to have cooked and named the stew in 1828), Stan takes us on a trek through rural and urban Georgia to reveal the folk heritage roots of Georgia Brunswick stew. This leads to the Stewbilee Festival in Brunswick, GA, where we discover the coastal Georgia roots of Brunswick stew from residents and stewmasters there. The folk of Brunswick, GA have long laid claim to the origin of this stew of Southern Americana, saying that it took it’s name from the town of Brunswick, gateway to the Golden Isles of St. Simon, Sea Island and Jekyll Island.

In the documentary the filmmaker plunges us into his search for and discovery of one of the last men who still cooks a classic South Georgia hogshead Brunswick stew. On a cold January morning in 1997 we follow stewmaster Lee Ferguson, accompanied by his wife and the son he is training to cook in the old fashioned way, as he prepares the stew that gave birth to the urban versions found in BBQ eateries today.

We come fast-forward to Atlanta, GA today, where the Governor and two United States Senators express strong opinions about the superiority of the Georgia stew over it’s competitor in Virginia. The filmmaker then picks up folklorist, Dr. John Burrison at Georgia State University as we travel to the Brunswick/Golden Isles to examine the claim of origination of the stew from both playful and authentic personal accounts. Our final destination is the annual Brunswick Stewbilee Festival and Cookoff sponsored by the Brunswick Kiwanis Club. We learn that Dr. Burrison has been selected to join the team of judges for the cookoff, and while the judging takes place we visit the booths of the competitors who are hoping to win the prized trophies recognizing the best of the year’s stewmasters and stews. On the way to the Stewbilee we run across a stew-dog, a stew Maccaw, and an urban legend about Virginia stewmasters who ventured South to compete at the Stewbilee during it’s early years only to be arrested for impersonating a stewmaster. The documentary ends on a serious note when The Georgia Sea Island Singers provide a musical tribute to Brunswick stew and help us appreciate the Sea Island Georgia/African American roots of the stew.