Southern Foodways Alliance

Interviewee Collection Sort descending Description Interviewer Date of Interview Location of Interview Affiliation
Leroy Duvall Ethnicity in the Seafood Industry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

When Leroy Duvall refers to himself as one of the younger people, it's despite his 64 years, but it's without a trace of irony. Part of it is that he is the President of the Fleur de Lis Society, a club half the size of what it once was because its membership is slowly passing from old age. And part of it is that, after 30 years of shrimping on the Gulf, his body still feels young. Eventually, the economic repercussions of endangered turtles forced him to retire from shrimping, and when Hurricane Katrina washed away his bakery, he retired from that, too. Mr.

Francis Lam Biloxi, MS Southern Foodways Alliance
Corky Hire Ethnicity in the Seafood Industry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Corky Hire may have had an inauspicious beginning to his shrimping career, taking over for his ailing father, but now 70 years later, his memories of working the Gulf are almost all fond ones. His time on boats, through the 30's and 40's, was during a time when Biloxi's seafood industry was growing tremendously and ail schooners were being replaced by powered boats, and Croatian families were making the shift from immigrant laborers to cannery owners and professionals.

Francis Lam Biloxi, MS Southern Foodways Alliance
Frank Parker Ethnicity in the Seafood Industry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Even in a town like Biloxi, it's not often someone can claim seven generations of fishing heritage. The line in Frank Parker's family may have stopped at six when his parents pushed him to go to college and consider other lines of work, but the years of growing up playing on the dock had him pretty well convinced he was going to go back out onto the Gulf. So at 24 years old, 12 credits shy of graduating, Frank decided to listen to the sirens and bought himself a boat. The funny thing, though, is that his parents listened to them too.

Francis Lam Biloxi, MS Southern Foodways Alliance
George Trojanovich Ethnicity in the Seafood Industry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Georgo Trojanovich is, as he says, "The only real Croatian in Biloxi." But in a city as proud as this one is of its Croatian heritage, everyone here knows what he means: with the arrival of Croatian families tailing off by the second half of the 20th century, Georgo is one of the few - yes, perhaps only - Croatian-born immigrants in town. A distant relative of a local restaurateur, Georgo came as a teenager to escape Tito's Communist regime, working as a dishwasher at Mary Mahoney's restaurant.

Francis Lam Biloxi, MS Southern Foodways Alliance
James Hicks Florida's Forgotten Coast

In 1942, the year James Hicks was born, dozens of families lived and worked thirteen miles west of Apalachicola. Their lives revolved around Miller's Fish & Oyster Company on the west end of the Apalachicola Bay, with a clear view of Indian Pass and St. Vincent Island. The Hicks family was one of those families. James's father, Henry Harrison Hicks, worked for the Millers. James followed suit, working on the bay by the time he was twelve years old. He oystered for near thirty-five years before he decided to hang his hat and get a more reliable job.

Amy Evans , Apalachicola, FL Southern Foodways Alliance
Tommy Ward Florida's Forgotten Coast

Born in 1961, Tommy Ward grew up with an appreciation for the place he still calls home. His parents, Buddy and Martha Pearl Ward, raised Tommy in the business out at their seafood house, 13 Mile. The remote location, thirteen miles west of Apalachicola, gave Tommy a hands-on education in his natural surroundings and life on the bay. As a teenager, Tommy left home and spent some time away at college. He also paid his dues working at some other seafood houses in Apalachicola. Eventually, he returned to the family business. But 13 Mile is not just his business. It's his heritage.

Amy Evans Apalachicola, FL Southern Foodways Alliance
Monette Hicks Florida's Forgotten Coast

Born in 1916, Monette Hicks grew up in Eastpoint. In those days, boats didn't have motors, there weren't any bridges over the bay, and there were no houses on St. George Island. Seafood was all anyone knew. Monette's family worked the bay harvesting oysters. She quit school at the age of twelve, when she was big enough to shuck. Oystermen harvested their catch nearby on Cat Point and Porters Bar. Shuckers would work daylight to dark, without electricity. In 1933, at the age of sixteen, Monette married a shrimper, Louis Hullman Hicks.

Amy Evans Eastpoint, FL Southern Foodways Alliance
George Watkins Florida's Forgotten Coast

George Watkins's family has been in the Apalachicola area since the late nineteenth century. They've witnessed the sponge trade, the loading of cotton boats, and a booming seafood industry. When George was a eight years old, his grandfather began taking him out fishing on weekends. Right then, George knew he wanted to be a fisherman. Over the years he has harvested just about everything the bay has to offer. But one day George decided to take up beekeeping. He says it was because he just liked honey. Like everything else George does, he threw himself into beekeeping with a passion.

Amy Evans , Apalachicola, FL Southern Foodways Alliance
Grady Leavins Florida's Forgotten Coast

Grady Leavins is a self-made man. Growing up in rural Bagdad, Florida, he sought out opportunity at every turn. He spent a couple of years at a community college but was anxious to work. He worked part time at the Arizona Chemical Research and Development Laboratory in Panama City and commuted to Apalachicola to work extra hours harvesting oysters. In 1976 Grady moved to Apalachicola. Living there, he immediately recognized opportunity in the oyster industry. He started small, but he was soon selling the oysters that he caught all over the state of Florida.

Amy Evans Apalachicola, FL Southern Foodways Alliance
Genaro "Jiggs" Zingarelli Florida's Forgotten Coast

Jiggs Zingarelli's grandfather came to Florida from Puglia, Italy, sometime in the late nineteenth century. Jiggs's parents settled in Apalachicola, where he was born in 1915. His nickname references his childhood habit of dancing Irish jigs. He served in the Army during World War II. When Jiggs returned home, he looked to printing as a trade. He went to Nashville to learn the craft of linotype and opened Franklin County Press in 1946. Soon, he began printing the oyster tags for the seafood houses in the area, and he has been printing them ever since.

Amy Evans Apalachicola, FL Southern Foodways Alliance