Member-funded, it stages events, recognizes culinary contributions with awards and a hall of fame, produces documentary films, publishes writing, and maps the region’s culinary institutions recording oral history interviews.
[2] John T. Edge, a writer and commentator, has served as the director of the SFA since its foundation in 1999.
[3] In 2007, the SFA established the John Egerton Prize [4] to recognize annually selected "artists, writers, scholars, and others—including artisans and farmers—whose work in the American South addresses issues of race, class, gender, and social and environmental justice, through the lens of food."
[citation needed] Current board members include Francis Lam and Rob Long.
[5] The annual Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award is made jointly by the Southern Foodways Alliance and the Fertel Foundation, and honors an unsung hero or heroine who has made a great contribution to food.