Food and Drink Food and cooking are very popular in North Carolina and numerous festivals are held annually in honour of favourite foods, such as apples, watermelons, seafood, turkey, pickles or collard greens. Local specialities include sweet potato pie, fried okra and buttered lima beans. Other dishes which regularly feature on menus in North Carolina include roast chicken with pecans, country ham with red-eye gravy and chocolate pecan torte with whipped cream. Seafood lovers should head for Calabash which locals boast is 'the seafood capital of the world'. Barbecues are also very popular, particularly in Lexington, North Carolina's barbecue capital, which has more barbecue restaurants per capita than any other area in the country.
Barbecue sauce is an often keenly debated subject.
Barbecue is often served with coleslaw, hush puppies and baked beans. Theatre and Concerts North Carolina's State theatre, the Flat Rock Playhouse, is the oldest professional summer theatre in the State and the Vagabond Players are rated as one of the best summer stock theatre companies in the country. The Brevard Music Center, near Flat Rock, offers a summer season in which guest artists perform more than 50 different concerts. Student bars dominate the university towns of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill and top rock bands appear at the Cat's Cradle club in Carroboro. Charlotte offers a wide range of entertainment including the popular Jazz Charlotte Festival in the second week of September.