This Is Hot Slaw. And Cleveland, Tenn., Wants You to Love It, Too.
ACROSS THE COUNTRY
This Is Hot Slaw. And Cleveland, Tenn., Wants You to Love It, Too.
A spicy, yellow dollop of cabbage slaw became Tennessee’s first official state food — then everyone had to learn what it was.
WHY WE’RE HERE
We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Cleveland, Tenn., a side dish became the main event after it gained statewide recognition.
By Emily Cochrane
Photographs by Audra Melton
Emily Cochrane and Audra Melton attended the annual hot slaw festival in Cleveland, Tenn., and sampled many varieties of hot slaw.
May 18, 2024
Attend a barbecue, church potluck or summer dinner in the small city of Cleveland in eastern Tennessee, and somewhere on the table, there will be a dish of hot slaw. People here slather it on hot dogs, plop it on pulled pork or simply reach for a heaping spoonful.
The rest of the state — and most of the country — does not.
So when the State Legislature named hot slaw as Tennessee’s first official state food this year, born-and-raised residents elsewhere in the state were flummoxed. What was this dish that had vaulted over Moon Pies, the hickory smoked barbecue of Memphis and Nashville’s hot chicken?
Recipe: Hot Slaw
The first thing to understand about a good dollop of hot slaw, its champions will explain, is that its heat has nothing to do with its temperature. It is all about spice: a tart smack of mustard followed by the slow burn of a jalapeño pepper.
But to call it spicy coleslaw is not quite right either.
“It’s uniquely its own,” said Brad H. Benton, whose family has a distinct place in Cleveland’s hot slaw lore. And to suggest it is merely a coleslaw variation, he added, “is like saying that vanilla ice cream and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and Oreo ice cream are all basically the same thing.”
