Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 13, 1993                   TAG: 9305130239
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TAZEWELL                                LENGTH: Medium

DON'T POKE FUN AT THIS HONORED VEGETABLE

County supervisors passed the designation on a 3-1 vote Monday night.

The lone dissenter was Jim Hale, who said the designation could make the county the target of jokes from outsiders.

"Everybody from Roanoke east thinks we all go barefooted out here," Hale said. "This will hurt the image of Tazewell County. I couldn't vote to hurt Tazewell County."

The request for the designation came from county resident Dave Phipps, who said poke salad has served as a food source during such hard times as the Depression and World War II.

Poke is a leafy vegetable that grows naturally in Southwest Virginia. Phipps said it is usually fried with bacon or other ingredients before being served. It is generally gathered in a paper bag, also known as a poke. He said many residents still enjoy a good meal of poke salad and noted that a Poke Salad Festival was held in Boissevain last year.

Phipps said the vegetable historically has been "very important to coal miners when they were on strike or had lost their jobs." Because of the abundance of poke salad in Southwest Virginia, "the community couldn't be starved out" during tough times, he said. "It has saved many a coal miner."

Phipps said the designation could help put Tazewell County on the map, pointing to the popularity of similar festivals in other locations. He said Virginia Tech is currently outlining the nutritional benefits of poke salad.

Phipps said he is serious about promoting poke salad, and he discussed plans to market a recipe book on the vegetable.