The following is an interview I conducted with myself.

Columnist Robert: Is it true that you have written a new book?

Author Robert: “I thought you’d never ask. The book is called ‘Nobody’s Poet’. It’s an anthology of this column. It contains more than 100 of the best columns ever typed using both of my index fingers. It also contains hilarious cartoon illustrations by Marshall Ramsey. And it’s available in book stores today” more...

When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be eating Chicken Tetrazzini

I am a Methodist; therefore I love a casserole.

A large portion of the passion I have for food can be traced to my church roots. A favorite meal as a child was the post-church Sunday lunch at my grandmother’s house. It was a large, formal spread that changed from week to week: Roast beef, leg of lamb, turkey and dressing and the absolute best fried chicken you have ever tasted. more...

Last week Don Ezra Nicholas entered the “Guinness Book of World Records” by eating 3 1/5 McDonald’s hamburgers.

To break the official record, 19-year-old Nicholas had to stuff the 3 1/5 hamburgers into his mouth all at once without swallowing. As he did this, the witnesses gathered in Singapore chanted, “Shove it in, shove it in!” more...

As a kid I hated bread pudding.

It always reminded me of a gruel-like dish a Dickensian orphanage would serve. more...

The most valuable piece of cooking equipment in my kitchen is a Lodge 15-inch cast-iron skillet.

I’ve got a lot of pots, pans and skillets. I’ve got even more gadgets – things that are supposed to help expedite the cooking process – nothing works as efficiently and easily as my cast-iron skillet. more...

The Twinkie snack cake turns 75 next year.

To celebrate its upcoming diamond anniversary, the Twinkie parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. more...

Chest pain, hunger pangs, aroma transformation and force-fed chicken broth

Hospital food is the butt of many jokes.

Sometimes the criticism is deserved, sometimes not. more...

Profiling is alive and well in the fast-food industry.

A Pittsburg high-tech company has developed a computer program that is able to determine which items restaurant customers will order even before they order them. HyperActive Technologies Inc. has created HyperActive Bob (amazingly enough, my nickname in elementary school) a computer program that warns cooks when they are about to get busy and even suggests specific items for them to prepare. Welcome to the 21st century. more...

One of those kid-oriented pizza restaurants opened in my hometown. I won’t mention the name, but it rhymes with “chucky cheese.”

I made it six weeks before my children asked me to take them there. On our arrival a giant rat greeted us at the door. This might be the only restaurant in town where rats are welcome, employed even. I explained to my son that it wasn’t a rat at all, just a teenager dressed up as a rat. Armed with this knowledge he ran over and pulled the teenager’s tail. more...

Kitchens across America have gone dark. Spontaneous moments of silence are being observed, pilot lights are being extinguished, whisks are still and chefs’ side towels are hanging at half mast. The grande dame of cooking has died.

On Friday the 13th last week, Julia Child, the godmother of American cooking, died just two days shy of her 92nd birthday. more...

I spent seven years as a waiter.

The savvy reader quickly will note that I used the term “waiter” and not “waitron.” Has there ever been a word whose taillights were more welcome in the rearview mirror of the restaurant industry vernacular than waitron? more...

I cooked at the River Road Festival in Natchez last weekend.

The heat index was 104 degrees. A portion of the weekend was spent conducting an outdoor cooking demonstration using two propane burners which increased the outside temperature by several degrees. I was hot and miserable and the attendees were, too. more...

Are we in the middle of a hospitality drought?

It seems that cavalier, don’t-give-a-squat attitudes are becoming the rule rather than the exception. more...

No Mississippian has influenced the culinary world more than Fred Carl.

Carl, a Greenwood native, is president and CEO of the Viking Range Corp. and a true pioneer in the food industry.

Viking is the initiator of the “commercial-type” segment of the major appliance market in the United States and Fred Carl is the initiator of Viking. more...

The lifeblood of a restaurant is its regular customers.

Before I opened my first restaurant I worked for seven years as a waiter in other restaurants. As a waiter, I learned a lot of the ins and outs of the restaurant business. At one restaurant the head waiter took me aside on my first day and gave me the run-down on all the regular customers. more...

Here’s a mid-summer update on what’s going on in the weirder world of food.

DES MOINES – A man was arrested last month for a drive-by chaluping. According to The Des Moines Register, “Nancy Harrison, a Taco Bell employee, told police she was working the drive-through at 10:45 p.m. Thursday when Christopher Lame, 24, ordered some food. Shortly afterward, Lame parked in front of the store, went inside and stated that he did not get the taco he ordered.” more...

While on vacation in the Florida Panhandle last week I had one of the most bizarre fine-dining experiences ever.

After several meals of fried seafood served in cheesy tourist traps filled with noisy kids (one of which was ours) we needed a break. more...

. . . (in so late) I would have baked you a cake

My newlywed wife wanted to bake a cake. She knew that yellow cake with chocolate icing was my favorite. more...

A restaurant in a New York hotel has an omelet on the menu that sells for $1,000.

And you thought restaurant prices in your home town were out of line. The omelet culprit is a restaurant called Norma’s, and it’s located in the Parker Meridien hotel. more...

. . . or are you just glad to see me? The Smithsonian comes to town

The Smithsonian, or at least a small branch of it, has set up camp in my hometown of Hattiesburg. more...

The Grim Reaper is here to check the temperature of your coolers

The arrival of a health inspector through the back door of a restaurant has been compared to the Grim Reaper showing up at one’s bedside. more...

Bless the feasts and the children

(And while you’re at it, bless every available flavor of Diet Rite, too)

What happened to the evening dinner table? more...

“Sex is good, but not as good as fresh sweet corn.” – Garrison Keillor

Today I cooked and ate the last container of corn in my freezer. more...

It took me 40 years to develop a taste for turnip greens.

Being not only a food writer, but also a Southern food writer, one would think that the consumption of turnip, collard and mustard greens was a prerequisite for the job. Not so. more...