Fayetteville’s food follows Fort Liberty, one of the largest military installations anywhere. Decades of soldiers returning from postings abroad — and the families who came back with them — have left the city with Korean, Thai, German and Middle Eastern restaurants in numbers a city this size would not otherwise support.
Underneath that is eastern North Carolina cooking: whole hog barbecue with a thin vinegar and pepper sauce, fried chicken, collards and cornbread.
The downtown Hay Street area has been redeveloped and holds most of the newer independent restaurants. The city’s farmers’ market draws on the surrounding Cape Fear farmland, which is productive and close.