It's been a while since the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) folks came through Athens, but my are they fun when they're here. Part of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, SFA combines academics and eating in the best possible way, with a yearly symposium on Southern food culture, tours and projects throughout the year and the region, regular publications of studies in the field and, most recently, the Potlikker film festival, a touring showcase for SFA documentaries that hits the Classic City this Saturday, Aug. 22, at Ciné. What I've always liked about SFA is its populist bent. Everyone knows someone who can hold forth on regional food traditions at length, whether it's the correct recipe for barbecue sauce or whether cream of mushroom soup is a necessity or an abomination, and the SFA gives all us food nerds (something quite distinct from "foodies") a venue. The Potlikker Film Fest is a bit easier to set up than the slew of events usually part of the SFA's arrival in town, and the presence of Ciné gives it a marvelous venue, within walking distance of many a restaurant and bar.

Joe York, the man responsible for three of the films that will be screening, has made literally dozens of documentaries on different aspects of Southern food culture, from Apalachicola oysters to heirloom seeds. With an M.A. in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi, York works as a freelance photographer in addition to producing and directing documentaries for the Center for Documentary Studies and the SFA and has produced a book of his photographs of Southern church signs, With Signs Following. York's films at this Potlikker are The Rise of Southern Cheese, which he made with Matthew Graves and which takes a look at Belle Chevre in Alabama, Sweet Grass Dairy in Georgia (producers of the Thomasville Tomme, a gorgeous, mild cow's milk cheese of which I could eat a wheel) and Bonnie Blue Farm in Tennessee; Hot Chicken, about Andre Prince Jeffries and this extremely spicy specialty of Nashville, which he serves at his restaurant, Prince's, and which guarantees to make you cry in pain if you're so foolish as to order "hot" rather than "medium"; and Cud: The Story of Will Harris and White Oak Pastures, which will premiere at the festival and takes as its subject Will Harris of Bluffton, GA, who raises beef cattle that roam and graze freely on sweet native grasses and spends each evening with his cows, his dog and a bottle of wine. Also screening is Mr. Okra, a film by T.G. Herrington and André A. Jones that follows Arthur J. Robinson (AKA Mr. Okra) as he travels the back streets of New Orleans, selling vegetables from his iconic truck and announcing his wares through a loudspeaker.

You can watch a few of these at the SFA's website (www.southernfoodways.com), but there's more than just movies to be found at the event, which runs from 6 to 9 p.m., with a reception, Terrapin beer, poetry read by Coleman Barks with accompaniment by Mickey Gilmore on harmonica and Bill Ogelsby on flute and sax, food provided by an array of luminaries and potlikker shots handed out at the door, with cornbread. Wait, really? I assumed these had to be fancy cocktails that merely incorporated potlikker, but, no. It's an actual, or really two actual shots of the stuff produced by cooking greens for a long, long time, a broth of deep flavor that possesses a kind of umami even if there's no meat involved. In this case, they'll be supplied by Angelish Wilson (of Wilson's), who's doing the traditional version, and Eddie Hernandez (of Taqueria del Sol), who's presumably bringing the spicy broth produced by his restaurant's turnip greens, one of the best things on the menu. Hugh Acheson (Five and Ten) is making mini meat loaf (made from White Oak Pastures beef) with pickled tomatoes and collards, Peter Dale (The National) is bringing piquillo peppers stuffed with White Oak Pastures beef and sofrito, Dexter Weaver (Weaver D's) is dishing up his sweet potato casserole, Olivia Sargeant and Jason Mann (Farm 255) will supply Cuban sandwiches, and James Beard Award-winner Louis Osteen (Lake Rabun Hotel) is making a catfish pâté, all of which should make you feel a little more like your $45 will be well spent, if you're on the fence.

This stop on the festival tour also serves as a celebration of the Athens Eats oral history project, which recorded interviews with Weaver and Wilson in 2006 that remain accessible on the SFA website, along with many from other towns and cities in the South. The SFA is always looking for new participants in the oral history initiative, permanently archived at the University of Mississippi, and provides tools and encouragement for you to do so on its site.

The films will be screened twice, leaving plenty of time for munching and socializing and, of course, drinking, if you didn't get your fill the previous night at the rye whiskey dinner at Five and Ten (call the restaurant to reserve a seat). SFA and the organizers of the event would strongly prefer you didn't just wander up to Ciné at 5:59 on Saturday, expecting to be admitted. Instead, go to www.southernfoodways.com and purchase your tickets there, ahead of time, then print your receipt and bring it with you as your admission. There will no doubt be other events, less formal, during the course of the weekend, and if your favorite bar appears to have been taken over by a bunch of seersucker-wearing, garrulous folks who seem to be itching to get into a fight over whether or not to add sugar to cornbread (heck no!), treat them kindly.

Hillary Brown