Hot chicken gets the tourism headlines. What Nashville actually eats is more complicated, older, and more interesting than a spice level on a menu.
Meat-and-Three
The format that defines Nashville’s food culture more than any single dish. One meat, three vegetable sides (which includes mac and cheese, hush puppies, and spaghetti by Southern reckoning), cornbread, and sweet tea. The tradition traces back to a Nashville factory cafeteria in the 1930s. The best version is at Arnold’s Country Kitchen at 605 8th Ave S, which has held a James Beard American Classics Award since 2009. See the separate FAQ entry on meat-and-three for the full picture.
Goo Goo Cluster
Created in 1912 at the Standard Candy Company in Nashville, the Goo Goo Cluster holds the distinction of being America’s first combination candy bar, meaning the first bar with multiple principal ingredients. Before it, candy bars were single-ingredient: chocolate, caramel, or taffy. Howell Campbell Sr. combined marshmallow nougat, caramel, roasted peanuts, and milk chocolate in a disk shape and named it after his son’s first words. It has been made in Nashville continuously for over 110 years, currently at a rate of 20,000 per hour. The Goo Goo Shop at 116 3rd Ave S downtown opened in 2014 and lets visitors watch production and build their own clusters.
Biscuits
Nashville has an unusual relationship with biscuits. Loveless Cafe on Highway 100 has been making the same scratch biscuit recipe since Lon and Annie Loveless opened the restaurant in 1951, and USA Today called those biscuits “Nashville’s second-most-important contribution to American culture,” which is a remarkable thing to say about flour, fat, and buttermilk. Biscuit Love, started as a food truck in 2012 by Karl and Sarah Worley, created a second wave of biscuit culture with their Bonut (a fried biscuit dough topped with lemon mascarpone and blueberry compote) and East Nasty (fried chicken thigh on a biscuit with cheddar and sausage gravy). They now operate six locations across Tennessee, Alabama, and Ohio.
Country Ham
Dry-cured, aged, dense, and salty in a way that has nothing in common with the pink wet ham sold everywhere else in America. Nashville’s country ham comes from Tennessee pork and is served at Loveless Cafe alongside biscuits and red-eye gravy (made from coffee and ham drippings). Meat-and-threes stock it as a regular menu item. It is one of those foods that rewards patience in eating; you have to slow down and chew properly.
BBQ
Nashville does not have a single signature BBQ style the way Memphis has its ribs or the Carolinas have their vinegar sauce. Nashville BBQ is an interpreter: Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint at 410 4th Ave S downtown does West Tennessee whole hog smoked 22 to 24 hours over hickory; Peg Leg Porker at 903 Gleaves St in The Gulch does Memphis-style dry-rub ribs and earned Southern Living’s 2024 Best Barbecue in Tennessee. The lack of a fixed tradition is actually an asset. Nashville pulls from every regional school without owing allegiance to any of them.
Chess Pie
A custard pie made from eggs, butter, sugar, and a small amount of cornmeal or flour. The cornmeal creates a slight crust on the filling’s surface. Chess pie appears on almost every meat-and-three dessert menu in Nashville. Arnold’s Country Kitchen serves a version that is discussed with the same seriousness as their roast beef. The origins of the name are disputed; theories include “chest” pie (it keeps well in a pie chest), “cheese” pie (a mispronunciation), and simply a shrug from someone who when asked what kind of pie it was said “jes’ pie.”
Banana Pudding
Layers of vanilla wafers, sliced bananas, and vanilla pudding, usually topped with meringue or whipped cream. Nashville serves banana pudding at meat-and-threes, BBQ joints (Peg Leg Porker’s version is thick enough to require a spoon with structural integrity), and as a standard diner dessert. It is not flashy food. It is reliable comfort food that Nashville makes correctly without overthinking it.
Fried Catfish
Common at meat-and-threes on Fridays. Also available at dedicated fish houses around the city. The catfish is typically cornmeal-crusted and fried until the outside is crisp and the interior is flaky. Often served with hush puppies and coleslaw. This is a Friday tradition that has held through several generations because the combination of textures and flavors earns the loyalty.
Sources
- Goo Goo Shop, googoo.com
- Notes on Nashville, “Meat-and-Three Restaurants,” notesonnashville.com
- Loveless Cafe, lovelesscafe.com
- A Little Local Flavor, “What Food Is Nashville Known For,” alittlelocalflavor.com
- Notes on Nashville, “Where To Find Nashville’s Best Barbecue,” notesonnashville.com
- Southern Living, “2024 Best Barbecue in Tennessee”
- Visit Nashville, “Grilled Cheeserie,” visitmusiccity.com