Every so often, we're highlighting a local or regional blogger we think you ought to know about. We can’t be everywhere at once, so we look to these passionate eaters, cooks and writers to keep us tapped into every facet of the food world. Consider this a way to get to know a blog’s taste buds, because, well, you should.

Who: Nealey Dozier, of Dixie Caviar
Where: Atlanta, Georgia
Twitter: @dixiecaviar

Born and raised in sweet home Alabama, I’ve just recently settled back down South after a five-year detour in Southern California. Seems it took uprooting my life to really appreciate what it truly means to be Southern. But it was in Los Angeles where I found a way to celebrate my heritage while gaining memories (and a few pounds) along the way.

It all started when, after a whirlwind stint as a wedding-planner-to-the-stars, I veered off course to pursue a career in food writing. As fate would have it, I found myself in the hands of the fabulous Amelia Saltsman, author of "The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook." It was Amelia who not only taught me to eat by the seasons, but more importantly, to cook what I know.

Of course, what I know is grandma’s country cooking. Not exactly the most elegant of cuisines, but definitely one of the tastiest. With a bit of sage advice and a hand-me-down cookbook or two, my Venice Beach bungalow quickly became an outpost for some down and dirty soul food. Every Saturday you could find me cooking up a storm, be it spicy breakfast casserole and bloodies for an early morning football game or a multi-colored king cake and hurricanes for Mardis Gras. With camera in tow, I began documenting my kitchen shenanigans for the rest of the world, and Dixie Caviar was born.

It has since become important for me to show all those Yankees and critics among us that Southern cuisine isn’t all canned cream of mushroom and Miracle Whip – just ask Edna Lewis. The Southern food of yesteryear was always locally grown and in season. If it didn’t grow here, you didn’t eat it. Now I’m not too much of a stickler, but I do what I can when I can to support my local farmers.

Now that I’m back in the trenches, I hope Dixie Caviar becomes a forum for Southern cooks around the globe to share their treasured family “receipts.” Hopefully you’ll always find a recipe here as good as your grandmother’s. Or, perhaps, even better.

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