This Magical Place is Just Outside of Nashville
Just outside of Nashville, there's a magical little place called Pinewood Kitchen & Mercantile, where owner and chef Mee McCormick is bringing the community together with her health-conscious Southern comfort food.
Now and then, you stumble upon a local restaurant that feels like home β a place where strangers are instant friends, and the food is unforgettable. Thatβs what itβs like to sit down for a meal at Pinewood Kitchen & Mercantile in Nunnelly, TN, where everyone is welcome, bodies are fed, and souls are nourished. The loving atmosphere and delicious food can both be attributed to owner Mee McCormick, whose story of childhood poverty, autoimmune disease and picking herself up by the bootstraps is beyond inspiring.
Born in the Northern Appalachian Mountains to a single mom who suffered from an autoimmune disease, Mee learned early on that she shouldnβt take health for granted. βMy mother was very sick most of my childhood,β she says. βWe were very hungry and very poor β no silver spoon. But there was a lot of funny in my house and a lot of gumption. There was a lot of determination and a lot of kindness.β At 17, Mee found herself on her own after her mother was killed in a car accident, and she set out with $20 in her pocket and an adventurous spirit. Many years later, following a path that included a brief stint in a convent (she left before becoming a nun) and some work in Hollywood as a writer for hire, she made a career change that helped put a small Tennessee town on the map.
Now, through her restaurant, mercantile, cattle farm, event space (slated to open this fall), newly released cookbook (her second), and upcoming bakery, the multi-talented dynamo is pushing peopleβs perception of βcleanβ food and how it influences self-care. But jumping ahead to all of Meeβs current success would be an injustice to the emotional and physical journey that led her to it. It all started when she found herself battling Celiac disease and dairy allergies that made her even sicker than her mother had been. βI did everything not to have my motherβs life,β she says. βMy mother got married at 18; I got married at 28. My mother struggled as a single mother and couldnβt make ends meet, and that grind is in me, but I avoided it. My mother didnβt go to school; I went to school. My mother didnβt travel; I traveled. Iβve had an incredible journey, and I did everything she didnβt do, but I didnβt change the fate of my health.β
She recounts a harrowing story of being on the floor in extreme pain, desperately needing to be rushed to the hospital, with her daughter looking on helplessly. βMy daughter, who was 6 years old at the time, was home alone with me,β she explains, βand she said, βMommy, what do we do? What do we do?β and I saw myself [in her]. That same fear I had as a child, watching my mother suffer, is now in my children. I had to change that.β Mee started asking herself hard questions about her future, and divine intervention instructed her to start cooking and alter what was going into her body by changing what was on her plate.
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Mee is quick to mention that the decision to pursue a culinary career didnβt come easily; she didnβt start with a passion for being in the kitchen. βI hated to cook. I was kitchen intimidated,β she offers, βbut here I was, living in Malibu, CA, and I could buy any food I wanted at Whole Foods β which is a big deal when youβre coming from fish sticks and food stamps β and nothing could save me. I couldnβt eat anything.β Meeβs Celiac disease is so severe that if someone touches a hamburger bun before touching her food, itβs debilitating. βPeople donβt realize weβre that sensitive,β she says of people who struggle with Celiac disease. βWe may not have anaphylaxis, where weβre going to die in the room, but weβre going to lay on the floor for three or four days wishing we were dead.β So, despite access to the beautiful produce and high-end grocery stores in Malibu, she dwindled to 89 pounds. βI prayed about it, and I heard a voice that asked, βWhatβs in it? Whatβs in the food?'β she shares. βAnd I was like, βUgh, I have to cook.'β At the time, she resorted to every excuse in the book to avoid it: I canβt, itβs hard, I donβt have time, you donβt understand, I work, my kids have 50 activities, I donβt have any money. βThat spiel was like the outfit I wore every day for why I couldnβt cook for my family or me,β she admits, βbut I didnβt want to die.β
Mee did what she has always done and faced the challenge head-on. She began cooking alongside a macrobiotic chef, which ultimately led to her decision to attend culinary school. Unlike most culinary students, however, she went home each day to adjust the recipes in ways that allowed her body to handle them, thinking outside the typical bounds of how food βshouldβ be prepared. βIn culinary school, youβre taught this is the way we cook and how it should be made. There are no substitutes,β Mee laments.
Realizing that the number of people with food sensitivities, autoimmune deficiencies and digestive diseases is increasing, the powerhouse continued working toward a way to not only heal herself but to heal others. Once she got well, she wrote her first book, My Kitchen Cure, for those enduring similar struggles. βWhen I was so sick, I prayed and said, βIf you show me a way to get well, I will be of service. I will serve,'β she says. βWhen I said that, I didnβt know I was actually going to have to serve. I was talking a big game!β
So, how did she wind up with a restaurant in Nunnelly? The Pinewood farm has been in the McCormick family for nearly 40 years. Several thousand acres, it used to be the original Pinewood plantation, which was founded and settled in the 1830s by Samuel Graham. βHe didnβt believe in slavery. He even had his own money, called Pinewood dollars, so that he could pay everybody equally,β she proudly tells us of the former plantation owner. βSo, Pinewood has always been a place of freedom.β
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After Mee and her husband, rancher and farmer Lee McCormick, settled into the farm, complete with grass-fed cattle, pasture-wood-raised pork and 10 acres of organic, biodynamic produce, they continued buying up the town β including the mercantile, gas station and eventually the restaurant. Itβs Lee who convinced Mee to open Pinewood Kitchen when he purchased the old general store that had been on the plantation since the 1920s. βI never wanted a restaurant; Iβm a reluctant restaurateur,β she laughs. βWhen my husband bought this place, I was so mad at him! I was like, βWhat am I going to do with a restaurant? And thereβs no foot traffic!'β But the quality of Meeβs food solved that problem in no time, bringing patrons out in droves for her organic, farm-to-table, down-home country cooking made with kindness.
βMy goal in running Pinewood was to ask, βHow do I create classic Southern foods β comfort foods people want to eat β and make them better, with no preservatives, no additives, nothing?'β Mee explains. Thereβs no doubt sheβs onto something, and her food is so special that itβs not uncommon for someone to travel 80 miles to take a seat at the Pinewood table. Mee makes sure every patron is fed, no matter what. βI feed everybody, whether they have money or not,β she says. βWe donβt take peopleβs dignity.β Watching her talk to customers, itβs clear that bringing the community together is Meeβs favorite part of the job. βI love seeing myself in someone else,β she says. βIt shifts me and makes me better. I love cooking for people and taking care of them, and I love the realness of who I get to be here.β
Mee continues to nurture Pinewoodβs longstanding message of equality. βI feel that we are changing our society,β she tells us. βWe want to be a part of something good and better, and there are very few places to go and be a part of something good and better. We want to spend our money where it matters, and we want to spend our time where itβs valued.β She hopes to transform people, which is apparent in every detail of her work, from her carefully prepared dishes to the way she runs her kitchen. βIβm creating kind food for your body,β she explains. βSo if it doesnβt start with kindness, it canβt serve kindness.β
As if Mee doesnβt already have enough on her plate, thereβs an event center and a much-anticipated teaching kitchen in the works for Pinewood. βWhen people are in a place of transformation, itβs an incredible opportunity to change it all β to reset,β she says of being able to offer instruction. βIf youβre going to reset your emotional and spiritual self, you need to reset your body with food, too. The two need to go together.β
That concept of transformation is the impetus behind Meeβs new book, My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure, which she released on April 14 of this year amid coronavirus turmoil and continued social strife. She wrote it to get Pinewoodβs message out into the world. βWeβre more divided than weβve ever been,β she says. βPeople have an opinion of the South, and I want to change it. I want to show everyone that people in the South care about what they eat and that there are inclusive kitchens and inclusive tables.β
βNashville is the best thing thatβs ever happened to me,β Mee says of her life in the Nashville-adjacent town of Nunnelly. Little does she know, sheβs one of the best things thatβs ever happened to Nashville, too.
Thank you, Mee, for inspiring us with your story, and thank you to Leila Grossman for the photography.
Pinewood is currently open for indoor and outdoor dining as well as takeout, and they are presently delivering farm boxes to Nashville, Bellevue, Franklin, Brentwood, Fairview and Dickson. Located at 4951 Hwy 48 North, Nunnelly, TN 37137, Pinewood Kitchen is open on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. For reservations, call (931) 729-4562.
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Jenna von Oy Bratcher
Jenna von Oy Bratcher is StyleBlueprint's Editorial Operations Manager and Lead Content Editor. The East Coast native moved to Nashville almost two decades ago, by way of Los Angeles. She is a lover of dogs, strong coffee, traveling, and exploring the local restaurant scene bite by bite.