Working for PEANUTS
How a little boiled peanut company in Bluffton is heating up an age-old Southern tradition. BY BARRY KAUFMAN
Lauren Marcinkoski remembers driving onto Tybee Island back in the day, stopping by to greet the unofficial welcoming committee of roadside boiled peanut vendors. These ramshackle stands once met every visitor to the island, serving up some piping hot southern culture right out of the crock pot. No doubt those of you who have been Hilton Head Island locals remember a similar welcome when heading on island. That roadside peanut vendor was once a staple of the South, sending visitors on their way with a belly full of that inimitable snack food that once defined the region. Blissfully 60
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PHOTOS COURTESY LURAY PEANUT
robust and salty, like mashed potatoes in pill form, the classic boiled peanut is one of those treats that connects us all to the first time we made our way to the area. For us newcomers, it’s the taste that helped us fall in love with the South. Over time, Marcinkoski noticed fewer and fewer peanut vendors as she drove onto Tybee. Pushed out by the big developments and the ceaseless march of progress, they were quickly becoming a thing of the past. She wasn’t about to let that happen. “There’s a lot of nostalgia for this snack; it’s a part of a lot of peoples’ childhood