Arkansas gets a lot of press for being the birthplace of cheese dip, but did you know fried pickles were also invented in Arkansas? The Southern staple traces its roots back to Atkins, where, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “the first fried dill pickles ever sold anywhere were sold in the summer of 1963 at 15 cents for an order of 15 hamburger slices.”
Atkins had, by then, already garnered a reputation as the Pickle Capital of the World thanks to Atkins Pickle Co., which operated there for more than 50 years. The fried pickles in question were sold across the street from the pickle plant by Bernell “Fatman” Austin at his Duchess Drive-In.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, it took the whole summer for Austin to perfect his recipe: “a large pickle sliced lengthwise and breaded in his family’s secret recipe, then deep-fried to golden texture.” Soon, restaurants across Arkansas were copying the dish…