Best Brunswick Stew in Norfolk, Va
 

We will be driving thru this town this summer, does anyone know where to find the best Brunswick Stew in or around Norfolk?

What makes you think it is even available? Some travel magazine?

Sounds like you are on a journey to find those regional dishes that once defined an area (from your other posts). I think Georgia for Brunswick stew more commonly, but if you want to find it, I think a local BBQ place might be a good bet.

I have a set of old cookbooks that included "classic" dishes for various states. But those dishes bear little relevance to the modern-day versions of where I live or even have lived in the past. Who makes this stuff up?

Brunswick stew originates from Brunswick County Virginia which is near Norfolk. The original stew used squirrel meat and I doubt that is available today.

I see today many people make it with chicken. I guess to a Virginian, everything tastes like squirrel.

Ah, the debate of origins. I have no horse in that race, but both Georgia and Virginia claim to be the one (town of Brunswick GA vs. Brunswick County VA).

I lived in the Hampton Roads area for a couple of years and never saw Brunswick Stew on a menu.

I did, however, read an article recently that talked about the habit of eating squirrel. Apparently, people still do eat squirrel because they like it and grew up eating it, but they are ashamed of it because it connotes poverty and so don't talk about it and certainly don't put it on menus.

"they are ashamed of it because it connotes poverty and so don't talk about it and certainly don't put it on menus."

I remember the scene in "To Kill a Mockingbird" when the kids reacted to their lunch guest talking about eating squirrel.

Brunswick County, VA is 100 miles west of the Hampton Roads area. Not clear why the OP thinks Norfolk is good place to find Brunswick stew.

My money would be on Georgia as the originator of the vile stuff. More okra grown there.

<i>I see today many people make it with chicken. I guess to a Virginian, everything tastes like squirrel.</i>

What a gratuitous slam. I thought travel was supposed to broaden your mind, not make you more pinheaded.

You may or may not be aware tha the fictional TKAM took place in Alabama.

Maybe it all looks the same from your bubble.

Are we seriously fighting about eating squirrel now? I thought Fra was joking, and if not, then it's a ridiculous thing to try to roast Virginians for. I did not take it seriously, in other words, and I consider myself a Virginian if I'm anything.

Once upon a time there was a poster who bragged about her 8 can Brunswick Stew. All you'd need is a hot pot and a can opener.

"What a gratuitous slam. I thought travel was supposed to broaden your mind, not make you more pinheaded."

It's called a joke, O humorless one.

And the two posts were unrelated geographically, my dull friend.

You had nothing of substance to add to this post except a gratuitous cheap shot. I'm not going to lose sleep b/c I called you out on it and you defend yourself by saying that I'm humorless and dull. I hope don't travel with that attitude.

"You had nothing of substance to add to this"

Actually I did, though you don't seem to have noticed.

NewbE got it.

Why is saying that Virginians eat squirrel--in jest, yes, I know--offensive?

Why stigmatize the eating of this ubiquitous rodent, the very definition of a renewable resource?

(I would not eat Rocky because I am pescetarian, not because I fear ostracism.)

Why knock noshing on squirrel? I hear that it is way better than possum but perhaps not quite as tasty as raccoon.

I have eaten fried squirrel, but that was when I lived in Mississippi the first time.

It was in fact indistinguishable from chicken except for the bones, which were, from the chicken eater's point of view, not in the right places.

More to the point, Brunswick stew is in fact a big thing in Virginia. One can buy it in a yellow can in Martin's supermarkets and it is -- good suggestion above from sludick -- on the board at BBQ joints in the Richmond area. Buz and Ned's has it seasonally.

Virginia Brunswick stew doesn't have okra, to my knowledge, just chicken, tomatoes, Lima beans, corn and seasoning.

So go for it, genxer!

More to the point, Brunswick stew is in fact a big thing in Virginia. One can buy it in a yellow can in Martin's supermarkets and it is -- good suggestion above from sludick -- on the board at BBQ joints in the Richmond area. Buz and Ned's has it seasonally.
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It is somewhat popular in VA, though not a southern staple, I would say. Mrs. Fearnow's in the can is fine.

And yes, VA Brunswick stew does not have okra.

https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Fearnows-...=1&*entries*=0

The Virginia Diner has it on their menu. It is located in Wakefield.

http://www.vadinerrestaurant.com/Menu/0/Menus.aspx

The only place I have ever eaten it was at Jake's BBQ in Va Beach, sans squirrel.

"A big thing in Virginia" because like fried salt mackerel with tomatoes, it is because they don't hardly eat it anywhere else!

:-)