I Dug Up a 40-Year-Old New Yorker Story Praising Owensboro’s Barbecued Mutton

We're very close to the 40th anniversary of a story by legendary New Yorker columnist Calvin Trillin about something most all us Owensboroans know and love.

On February 7, 1977, Trillin did a piece about the great food of Kentucky and naturally began with fried chicken.

He even mentioned something that never occurred to me--there are folks on the other side of the world who ONLY think fried chicken tastes like what you get at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I enjoyed his recognition of the then-new phenomenon known as the "indoor shopping mall."

And then, Trillin segued into the portion of his article (the word blog didn't exist at the time, nor would it for a couple of decades) that supposed the reclamation of Kentucky's cuisine reputation would rest on the shoulders of a delicacy in the western part of the commonwealth.

Yes, he was talking about barbecued mutton.

And, while the story really is a celebration of the all the wonderful food Kentucky has to offer--and it WILL make your mouth water with all those references to fried chicken and ham with red-eye gravy (somebody STOP me)--he always comes back to Owensboro and its unique offering.

It's a fun piece and I cannot honestly remember how I came across it, but I also enjoyed the mentions of Gabe's Tower, General Electric, among other things.

Plus, it's weird that I happened upon it so close to the 40th anniversary of its publication.

Click here and read the whole thing.