Picnic friendly food available in Louisville or Knoxville

August 19, 2017 1:01 AM

I'm driving from Louisville to Knoxville on Sunday. On Monday, I'll be in Knoxville with intentions of seeing the eclipse. On Monday, I'd like to focus on finding a good spot to watch the eclipse, so I think it would be helpful to have lunch packed in advance. But, I can't just let that meal opportunity go to waste. What delicious food can I buy the day before and eat without cooking or preparing anything?

I don't know much about Louisville or Knoxville and I didn't start researching this until long after I should have. I'm enthusiastically diving into BBQ for the other meals on this leg of my trip. I could just stick with that and get some BBQ chicken. Room temp ribs doesn't really sound very appetizing.

So, that is my question for you: Is BBQ chicken the best possible solution? Where should I get it? And what should I have with it? Great salads or side dishes?

Or, what should I have instead of it? Are there any great markets or delis that cook from scratch with local ingredients?

I think I'm provisioning for a pretty food-adventurous group, although one of us is avoiding gluten. I think we'd all prefer to avoid anything fried in partially hydrogenated oil, but we'd love fried chicken fried in just about anything else.

Ordinarily, I'd rely on my own research skills, but the added difficulty of finding something that will be good a day later and at room temperature has humbled me.

I'll have a cooler, so I can buy something in Louisville and transport it safely. I'll have a refrigerator in my hotel, so I can store it safely overnight.

posted by stuart_s to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

I'm a Knoxvillain. If I was going to do a room-temp picnic thing for a group with day-old food, I would actually just go to The Fresh Market. They are small upscale grocery stores. There are two of them here and they have excellent delis, very good produce, a cheese counter, an olive bar, bakery etc. Their rotisserie chicken is awesome.

I'm not a BBQ person myself... Calhoun's is the big-deal BBQ place here, but they're not really worth the hype IMO. Buddy's is a local chain and I think they're pretty darn good, and they're cheap. A loved one would insist that I mention Archers.
posted by heatvision at 4:27 AM on August 19, 2017 [3 favorites]

Dried apricots, nuts, almonds, apples, a hard cheese (such as Manchega), crackers (Milton's gf crackers). Dried mango. Beef jerky.

Yeah, in fact: eclipse -> moon -> cheese; get 3 or 4 cheeses and go with an eclipse theme.
posted by at at 6:18 AM on August 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Forgot: Tomotoes, peaches, plums! I'd say sun-dried tomatoes to go with the eclipse theme, but no... it's late August = fresh tomatoes!
posted by at at 6:25 AM on August 19, 2017

This is a bit of a hijack, so feel free to flag it, but what is the best option to get into the path of the totality from Knoxville?
posted by idb at 7:06 AM on August 19, 2017

Charcuterie plate fixings would be good.

Crackers.
Grapes and/or other fruit.
Some veggies like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers.
Hard cheeses.
For a meat, maybe a jerky or two. I don't know if a small, uncut salami would be safe. Maybe also marinated tofu.
Brined goodies like olives, pickles, capers, cornichons. (Please yes cornichons, I love cornichons).

A neat selection of gourmet candies to nosh on as well.
posted by spinifex23 at 10:59 AM on August 19, 2017

I-75 go Sweetwater south of Knoxville will get you to totality centerline.
posted by Pressed Rat at 2:51 PM on August 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Go to Sweetwater.
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 10:26 PM on August 19, 2017