By Jasmine Deener 

During the holidays, many people sit at a long table and have a big dinner with their family. But there are some people who do not have that option. The owners of Bossman's Pit Stop take this into consideration and every year on Thanksgiving they open their doors to the less fortunate members of the community.

By Meagan Nichols

The University of Memphis Department of Journalism is home to several faculty that have worked or currently work in the world of media, one of those people is Pamela Denney. In addition to teaching full-time at the U of M, Denney is the food editor for Memphis Magazine. Denney is also the author of the recently released book, "Food Lover's Guide to Memphis."

In the following audio slideshow, Denney discusses the powerful role food holds in society, how her interest for food writing came to fruition and the importance of equipping the next generation of journalist with the proper tools.

By Kelsey Gilliam

Here is a list of all the places that will be open and serving meals in the University District this Thanksgiving. If you're not up to making a Thanksgiving dinner yourself, pick one of these places to do it for you.

By Matthew Schwartz

 Just down the street from the University of Memphis' south campus,located on 1264 Getwell Road, Ching’s Hot Wings is a popular place for students and residents alike to enjoy some good home cooked wings.

The restaurant, founded in 2003, has been a constant for U of M students, both past and present.

Open seven days a week, Ching’s features many different style of wings and tenders. Along with their flavorful wings, they are also known for their famous seasoned fries.

Flavors of wings vary from mild hot, extreme hot and suicide seasoned down to honey hot and honey gold.

Ching’s even goes the extra mile and serves hot dogs, smoked sausage, onion rings, jalapeño poppers and fried okra to go along with their main dishes.

“It’s messy, but at the same time, very worth the mess,” said Mark West, a freshman civil engineering major at the U of M.

By Erica Holmes                                                                                           
On the corner of Highland and Park Avenue the Mediterranean Grocery, Inc. sells groceries and prepares Mediterranean food for people on-the-go and for those who crave the warming benefits of slow cooked food. 

The store, located at 3561 Park Ave., is owned by Sami Abdelfattah. 
 
On a typical morning, Abdelfattah sips his Arabic coffee while welcoming new customers and regulars into the store for their daily grocery runs and adventurous shopping experience, which is a bazaar-like scene. They have every spice and tea imaginable as well as ornate and decorative serving platters and kitchen tools. 

“We buy our chickens from Crescent Farms in Wisconsin and everything is fresh daily,” Abdelfattah said.

A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that women who slightly tweaked their meat and potatoes diet to allow room for more Mediterranean diet were 40 percent less likely to develop chronic diseases, memory loss or have as many mental health issues. They are also more likely to maintain their mobility well into retirement.

By Margot Pera           

Calorie conscious students at the University of Memphis may be able to have their cake and eat it too, or at least their popcorn.

Kay and Mike Gellar, “POPrietors” for the franchise Doc Popcorn, are looking to expand their client base, and U of M is one of their target locations.

“If I was a college student, I would love the idea of sitting down and studying while munching on a bag of yummy popcorn,” Kay said.

Doc Popcorn was started by Robert and Renee Israel in 2003 as a healthy snack alternative to the typical calorie-laden popcorn sold at festivals, concerts and other venues. The couple made the popcorn in the kitchen of their New York City apartment, and then moved to the more health conscious climate of Boulder, Colo., where they opened up stands in sports arenas, shopping malls and various Whole Foods Markets throughout the state.

“They both worked for Fortune 500 companies in New York and just got tired of the rat race,” Mike said. “When they moved to Boulder, they spent six years perfecting their flavoring formulas."

By Meagan Nichols

With seven locations and an eighth scheduled to open in Germantown in February, Huey’s restaurants have served the greater Memphis area for over 40 years.

The newest and busiest of the seven-restaurant fleet, located less than three miles from the University of Memphis, is the Huey’s on Poplar Avenue, which will celebrate its 10-year anniversary this December.

Shannon Little, the marketing and events coordinator for Huey’s, said of the 400 employees that comprise the staff she estimated roughly 100 are either current U of M students or Tiger alumni. Little, who has worked at Huey’s for seven and a half years, falls into the latter of the two categories.

Little graduated from the U of M in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in communication with a focus in business management. In 2011, she earned a masters degree from the U of M in communication with a focus in community relations.

“I actually started as a food runner and expo at this location in Poplar in 2006 and then after a year was promoted to server and then two and a half years ago I started going into the office,” Little said. “I was a marketing intern and then I got promoted to assistant, and then last year I quit working tables and became the full on marketing and events coordinator.”

Little said when the company hires people they look for individuals who will stay in Memphis for a long time and said college students generally fit this profile.

“We have a very low turnover here,” she said. “The average years of employment for someone who works at Huey’s is seven years. I started my sophomore year of college and pretty much have worked through ever since.”

By Margot Pera

GrowMemphis, a philanthropic project of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center aimed at helping poverty afflicted communities turn vacant lots into community gardens, is trying to educate Memphians of every socio-economic class by hosting a special screening of the film, “A Place At The Table.”

The film discusses general problems about poverty across the country and how it is affecting people’s access to nutritious foods. The film will also talk about the problems that could result from cutting Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Programs (S.N.A.P.), more commonly known as welfare.

 “People have a misconception of the ‘welfare queen’—a single African American woman who abuses the system through receiving governmental aid,” said Carole Coulter, food policy coordinator at GrowMemphis. “That simply isn’t true. Most of the people that benefit from welfare programs are children and the elderly.”

Christopher Peterson, executive director of GrowMemphis, said in Memphis a significant portion of welfare recipients live in Collierville.  Suburban food stamps are not talked about that much because of the stigma associated with it.

“Even if someone goes to a food pantry to receive donations, the majority of it is processed and lacks sufficient nutrition,” Coulter said.

Brother Juniper’s restaurant housed at 3519 Walker Ave., just steps from the University of Memphis’s main campus, plans to open a second location in the Forrest Hill Irene Road/ Poplar Avenue area as early as spring of 2014.

The restaurant, which is run on the principles of food, family, community and church, is owned and operated by Jonathan Koplin, his wife Pauline, daughter Sarah and son Patrick.

The nationally recognized Memphis breakfast joint wants to take the current restaurant structure “another step” with the new site, Jonathan said.

“It would be a restaurant, bakery, coffee roasting—might do some training out there again,” he said.

The “training” is a reference to a nonprofit program Brother Juniper’s started in 2000 called Juniper Bakery, which taught at-risk youth how to make artisan breads. Jonathan said the program lasted three or four years, before they passed it along to another organization.

Community service is and always has been at the forefront of the Brother Juniper’s business model.