SOUTH MS CUISINE | hattiesburg’s new yokel
F RESH FROM THE FARM
Hattiesburg’s New Yokel Market
caters to organic food lovers
C TEXT AND PHOTOS BY VALERIE WELLS
Chris Cagle smiles at a cus-
tomer and bends over a
notepad on the brick counter at
the New Yokel Market in down-
town Hattiesburg. It’s a long
bend for the lanky 31-year-old
entrepreneur but his long pony-
tail stays in place down his
back.
“I think of my customers as
accomplices,” Cagle said.
Many of his customers are
middle-aged, conservatively
dressed and passionate about
buying organic food. This is
Cagle’s niche. His family-
owned New Yokel Market is an
organic grocery store and his
accomplices come from all over
the Hattiesburg area to shop
here.
“This is not like a hippie bas-
tion,” Cagle said.
He first opened the store in
2005 with some family mem-
bers. At that time, it was on
East Pine Street. When a space
opened up on his favorite cor-
ner, Cagle moved the business
to 205 N. Main St.
Cagle knows the block well.
When he was 23 and still living
in Meridian, he came down
with friends to hear a band
44 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
playing at the Thirsty Hippo.
He began to see it as an oasis
and became part of a social net-
work headed up by Erik Eaves,
who owned the Hippo and the
building next door housing
Main Street Books.
When the bookstore moved
into a larger space across the
street, The New Yokel got a
new home.
“I don’t think Erik gets
enough credit for what he has
done in downtown
Hattiesburg,” Cagle said.
Through that Thirsty Hippo
network, more young profes-
sionals have come downtown to
live and work and take wild
chances starting new business-
es. Cagle said those friendships
have led to business decisions
and partnerships.
The mural on the outside
wall of the grocery store depicts
the organic farm of Tom Dana,
a South Mississippian known
for growing produce without
chemical fertilizers or pesti-
cides. Hattiesburg artist Spence
Townsend, another member of
the Thirsty Hippo network,
painted it.
Not only does the New Yokel
Market sell organic products,
the store offers several pre-
pared foods. Cagle’s younger
sister Anna makes vegetarian
breads, fresh salads and cre-
ative sandwiches for sale
throughout the day.
“Soup is her greatest expres-
sion,” he said.
Cagle has traveled across the
country visiting various organic
farms and educating himself on
food issues. He’s also studied
economics and history and sees
deep connections between glob-
al issues and what’s in your
refrigerator right now.
“After World War II, food
became industrialized,” Cagle
begins, as he sits down and
starts a conversation about the
metabolic crisis of
Mississippians and big busi-
ness’s role in controlling the
food system.
The organic food movement
is a reaction to the industrial
take-over of how Americans
eat, Cagle said.
He has simple advice for
shopping for healthier food in
any store: Read the labels.
Avoid the following as much as
possible:
 New Yokel Market
- Words you can’t pronounce.
- Any ingredient preceded by the word
“From.”
- Any preservatives or coloring.
“Basically anything that isn’t food,” he
said.
He also suggests only shopping on the
outside aisles of grocery stores where the
fresh food tends to be displayed and avoid
the inner aisles altogether. Healthy food
has a short shelf life, Cagle said.
“Don’t eat anything your great-grand-
mother wouldn‘t eat,” he said, citing
• Directions: New Yokel Market, 215 N.
author Michael Pollan. Main St., is located at the intersection
He is passionate on the subject but does- of Main and Buschman streets in down-
n’t go around fighting for his cause. town Hattiesburg.
“I educate by diffusion, not by infusion,”
Cagle said. “The decisions people make by • Hours: The organic grocery store is
open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through
choosing food are powerful.” Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. In
Cagle’s decision to move to Hattiesburg addition to groceries, fresh homemade
was powerful, also. soups, salads and sandwiches are
“In my heart, I’m a farmer,” he said. available daily.
But selling organic food and being
• For information: Call (601) 584-5048 or
around other young entrepreneurs is go to www.newyokel.com.
where he wants to be right now.
Hattiesburg, he contends, is probably
the coolest city in Mississippi.
“Because of the young people cycling
through there’s open mindedness,” Cagle
said. It’s a college town but is also a city
with a substantial population outside the
colleges, which Cagle argues makes it dif-
ferent than an Oxford. Hattiesburg’s histo-
ry of civil rights reforms impressed Cagle.
He says that kind of thinking and action
has spilled over into other ways of think-
ing.
“It tends to make the town cooler,” he
said.
Even though it’s cool, it’s not always
easy running a small business. Cagle works
more than 10 hours a day most days.
“It’s a labor of love. We entrepreneurs
are all in the same boat, striving not to be
someone’s employee. We are eking it out,”
he said.
“We need more people to step out and
take a risk and watch magic happen.”