SVMINTERVIEW 2016 EVENT
PHILLIP RHODES
arly proud of? All of them! But I’m especially proud of the cookbook. If you weren’t at the helm of G&G, what would you be doing? Trying to learn how to operate a catering business.
Garden & Gun Magazine Executive Managing Editor A candid interview with Phillip Rhodes, the Executive Managing Editor of Garden & Gun Magazine, headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, and this year’s sponsors of the Garden & Gun Preview Party presented by Aflac at the 2016 Synovus Toast of the Town.
Garden & Gun has experienced growth since you joined the publication, what do you attribute this to? Our passion for telling authentically Southern stories. People think magazines are supposed to compete with Facebook—tiny little blurbs that flit across your mind. But I think books are our real competition—quality, beautifully printed objects full of captivating stories and images that are meant to be savored. That’s what we aim to deliver with each issue of G&G. You and the editors at Garden & Gun put together a cookbook called, The Southerner’s Cookbook: Recipes, Wisdom and Stories. Why the decision to collectively create a book? What was the inspiration behind it? There’s so much about Southern food to celebrate - the stuff we all know and love, like biscuits and barbecue, but also lesser-known ingredients, like field
THE NAME The name Garden & Gun is an “inside reference” to a popular ’70s Charleston disco called the Garden and Gun Club.
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arden & Gun is a magazine that covers the best of the South, including the sporting culture, the food, the music, the art, the literature, the people and their ideas. With a national audience of more than one million passionate and engaged readers, the magazine has won numerous awards for its journalism, design, and overall excellence. Phillip Rhodes talks to SVM about his background in the media and publishing worlds, and he explains his passion for the magazine.
Tell us a little bit about Garden & Gun, and your position with the magazine. I’m the executive managing editor, which means I solve problems, whatever they may be - a story that needs a little love, a deadline that needs a little enforcing. Prior to joining Garden & Gun, I spent a decade at Cooking Light magazine in Birmingham, Alabama. That’s what helped prepare me to co-author G&G’s The Southerner’s Cookbook. Well, the food experience, that is - not the healthy cooking part. There’s quite a bit of bacon in our book. As a matter of fact, the very first recipe in the book is for Bacon Crackers, which are every bit as easy and delicious as their name implies. Have there been any stories or features at G&G you have been particul SVM
peas, or regionally specific dishes, like western North Carolina sonker, which is kin to cobbler. We wanted to share as many of those ingredients and traditions as we could in 300 pages. What are some of your personal favorite Southern dishes and drinks? You just can’t beat iced tea. Or a good cheese straw.
Our passion for telling authentically Southern stories.
PEOPLE THINK MAGAZINES ARE SUPPOSED TO COMPETE WITH FACEBOOK —tiny little blurbs that flit across your mind.
In the magazine, do you have a philosophy as far as photo versus stories? Sometimes stories are told through words, sometimes through images. Ideally, one compliments the other, creating something bigger than the sum of its parts. Finish this sentence. The best thing about living in the South is: I love the South in many ways, but my favorite are the lazy summer Saturdays on the screened porch. svm
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