Restaurant inside a giant sculpture, served with history and controversy

On the outskirts of Natchez, on a back road through fields and plantations, stands a figure that is impossible to ignore: an African-American woman over 8 meters tall, wearing a puffy red skirt. Inside that skirt is Mammy's Cupboard restaurant, a time capsule where Southern hospitality, kitsch architecture and a complex history intersect.

Built in 1940, this place has been the subject of debate for decades because of its image linked to the stereotype of the "mammy" - a character associated with racism in the southern United States. However, over time it has been reappropriated by its local owners and the community, who have transformed it into a symbol of resistance and cultural curiosity. Beyond the building, what keeps it alive is the Southern comfort food: chicken pot pies, cornbread, cream pies, and old-fashioned iced tea.

Despite its quaint appearance, the restaurant has an authentic soul. The waitresses know every customer by name, the recipes haven't changed in generations and the tablecloths are red plaid. To visit Mammy's Cupboard is to peek into a part of Southern history that doesn't appear in museums, and to do so with spoon in hand.