🛢️ Detour To A Culture War: Chicken, Dumplings And Food For Thought At Cracker Barrel 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” meets readers at the intersection of faith and news. Click to join nearly 10,000 subscribers who get this column delivered straight to their inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr.
NAMPA, Idaho — I exited off Interstate 84 and straight into the nation’s latest culture war.
Unintentionally, I should stress.
A reporting trip brought me to the Pacific Northwest this past weekend. After flying 1,900 miles — via an L-shaped route from Oklahoma City to Phoenix to Boise — I picked up my rental car and steered west.
About 3 p.m., my growling stomach reminded me I’d missed lunch.
So when I spotted a Cracker Barrel about 20 miles outside the Idaho capital, I decided to indulge — and have a little fun with my Facebook friends. After all, I’d seen a few of them posting about the chain’s new logo.
“Please, Cracker Barrel, don’t mess with the pancakes,” quipped my friend Rob Long, who lives in Lebanon, Tennessee, where Cracker Barrel is based. “That’s all I ask.”
I snapped a picture of the refreshed menu and teased online, “I was gonna eat here, but then I noticed they have a new logo. Just kidding. I’m hungry. I’m definitely gonna eat here.”
Uh oh.
Controversy erupted after Cracker Barrel replaced its “Old Timer” logo with a new one. (Shutterstock photo)
I inadvertently ventured into a full-fledged ideological war zone. As I waited for my chicken and dumplings to arrive, I realized the serious nature of the brouhaha for a lot of folks.
“I will pass — they lost me offering alcohol repeatedly at breakfast,” commented my friend Rhonda Zorn Fernandez, a resident of Alpine, Alabama.
Founded in 1969, the chain of about 660 restaurants in 44 states added beer, wine and mimosas to its menu for the first time in 2020.
Fernandez, a teetotaler like me, joked that she tries hard not to smoke and drink until after 8 a.m.
“Now I am forced to learn how to make dumplings,” she quipped.
Another friend, Mark Bush, who travels full time in his RV, said: “They seriously need to focus on quality vs. their logo. I’ve given up on them.”
The quality of the food isn’t what it used to be, a number of other friends agreed. I can jump on board with that: I’ve complained in recent years about the gravy, which I liken to what charcoal lighter fluid must taste like. And the pinto beans I ordered at this particular restaurant were crunchy and inedible, as if someone forgot to cook them. (I did enjoy the chicken and dumplings!)
Columnist Bobby Ross Jr. decided to “have a little fun” with Facebook friends by wading into the Cracker Barrel controversy. (Social media screenshot)
Digging deeper into the controversy, I found predictable analysis on the left and the right.
“In the latest example of conservatives taking something totally normal and yelling loud enough that it becomes fodder for the culture wars, Cracker Barrel is woke now,” Olivia Craighead wrote for New York Magazine’s “The Cut.” “Why? Because it got rid of the old man and the barrel on its logo.”
On the other hand, The Federalist’s Sean Davis suggested, “(T)he real reason Cracker Barrel has been struggling is that its service and food quality nosedived after Covid, and instead of fixing that, the company and its woke executives decided to go full Bud Light and taste the rainbow and dare its customers to object.”
In a news story Monday headlined “How a Cracker Barrel Logo Change Spawned a Political Firestorm,” the Wall Street Journal’s Heather Haddon offered this synopsis:
On Monday, the company apologized for how it communicated the changes but didn’t pivot from plans to keep updating the brand.
The chain replaced its longtime logo, featuring a man in overalls leaning against a barrel, with a streamlined version featuring just the chain’s name. The move engulfed the restaurant in a culture-war firestorm, with commentators online and some customers accusing Cracker Barrel of eschewing its country charm and heritage for a sanitized image.
Critics have lobbed personal attacks on social-media against Julie Felss Masino, chief executive of the nearly 56-year-old chain.
“She scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding,” wrote the Woke War Room on X in a message shared by Donald Trump Jr. “She should resign and be replaced with leadership that will restore Cracker Barrel’s tradition.”
The fallout has shaved tens of millions of dollars from the public company’s market value, spawned calls for boycotts and risked the casual-dining chain’s turnaround plan.
But on Tuesday, Cracker Barrel gave into the criticism from everyone from President Donald Trump to the Democratic Party and announced the return of its “Old Timer” logo.
Welcome back, Uncle Herschel (who was a real person).
So where does that leave us?
A familiar place, actually, with more flashpoints in the culture wars inevitable.
See past controversies involving Target (woke and post-woke versions). And American Eagle. And Tesla. And Chick-fil-A. And Starbucks. And Disney. And numerous others caught in viral headlines, by their own volition or not.
Since I’m (apparently) a glutton for stirring up social media, I asked my Facebook friends if they’ve ever boycotted or simply avoided a business for political or cultural reasons.
I got a mix of feedback — and not just about the quality of Cracker Barrel’s fried okra.
“I have not boycotted anything,” said Kim Davis Leatherwood of Stephenville, Texas. “If I stopped shopping everywhere that I disagree with, then I would have very few choices for shopping. That said, I would avoid going somewhere that blatantly went against my religious beliefs.”
Trent Wheeler, a missionary in Panama, said he has boycotted companies, including Target “because of the push to indoctrinate children in the LGBTQ movement. When corporate monsters start messing with our kids’ values, that crosses the rubicon of political correctness endangering the future of our children.”
Deana Hamby Nall of Little Rock, Arkansas, said she listened to a recent episode of the “Stuff You Should Know” podcast in which the point was made that boycotting consistently is impossible.
Nall said she agrees with that.
Still, she said, “Having acknowledged that, there are some corporations I just don’t want my money going to, such as Chick-fil-A, and more recently, Target. And it’s not because I think I can singlehandedly drive a company out of business. It’s just that once your child comes out to you as a member of the LGBTQ community, those things become deeply personal.”
Shawn Freeman, a minister in Houston, said he doesn’t boycott because he has no idea where to draw the line.
“How much research do I do to make sure the businesses I am supporting align with my way of living?” he asked. “I have found that I often don’t agree with myself as I change year after year — should I boycott myself?”
I grapple with similar questions.
If I oppose gambling, can I fill up my gas tank at a convenience store that sells lottery tickets? If alcohol abuse concerns me, can I shop at a supermarket with a beer-and-wine aisle?
If I maintain Sunday should be a day of rest, can I go out to eat after church at, say, Cracker Barrel? At my house, that means my wife has to work. No one begs me to cook.
But that’s enough contemplation — for now — on my detour to this week’s culture war.
Inside The Godbeat
I love it when a plan comes together!
The Religion News Association will take its 2026 annual conference to Atlanta. The dates: April 23-25.
This week Major League Baseball revealed its 2026 regular season schedule. The happy news: The Braves will be home during the RNA meeting, hosting the Philadelphia Phillies.
I’ve enjoyed outings to PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Nationals Park in Washington during the last two RNA conferences. I’m eager to check Truist Park in Atlanta off my bucket list!
The Final Plug
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.”
So said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey after the nation’s latest school shooting — this time during a back-to-school Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
Wednesday’s attack was both shocking — three dead, including the gunman, and 17 injured — and not shocking at all. See coverage by Religion Unplugged’s own Clemente Lisi.
Hug your kids, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.