I didn't doubt him for a second: When I was growing up, folks used to say that the odor of chitlins cooking was so strong that even the leaves on the trees would turn the other way to escape it. The cleaning and cooking process does indeed produce a constant, unmistakable funk, an ever-present blend of fecal matter and hot fat, heightened by sulfur and tinged with sweat. But none of that mattered to my father, who was raised on chitlins.
Certainly nobody pressed me to try them again. With plenty of more palatable, socially acceptable options available on the cheap, it's become easy for younger generations to reject chitlins, not only for their texture and aroma but because, for many, the dish can serve as a strong reminder of the hardships the generations before us endured. Chitlins belong to the American food landscape that existed before the national highway system, chain restaurants, and frozen food.
I hadn't been sure how racially diverse the event would be—even though chitlins are often thought of as an African-American foodstuff because of their origins,by a caucasian mayor who was looking for a new way to raise money for the town's Christmas decorations. At the time, Ben Dekle—a local white radio DJ and friend of the mayor's—declared that he'd always wanted Salley to host a chitlin-themed strut, but nobody had had the"guts" to do it.
The odor of chitlins comes and goes—never brutally obtrusive, because, this early in the day, people are just passing through with to-go plates, the musty funk leaking from the crevices of their Styrofoam containers. I find myself torn, determined to immerse myself but utterly unprepared to order my own plate of chitlins, let alone take a seat in the house itself.
"I grew up eating them, so I like them all right," he says."But you can't eat just anybody's chitlins. You gotta trust the cook you're eating them from." I explain to him that this is my first time at the festival, and only my second interaction with chitlins.
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