Food for the soul

Popular plate: Fried chicken is its signature dish and reliable crowd-pleaser for newcomers to soul food.

Talk of the town: They say Martin Luther King, Jr himself used to frequent the Busy Bee; it's been around since 1947.

Soul food is as Southern as food gets, with roots in the slave culture of the South and combining elements of West African and Southern cuisine. And your best bet, if trying only one place for soul food, is the Busy Bee, in Atlanta's West End, a hub of African-American culture. The Bee is probably most famed for its chitlins - pig intestines (for those really craving something authentic), gravy, oxtails, fried chicken, peach cobbler, sweet tea, and collard greens, none of which are healthy but all of which are guaranteed to make your soul sing.

Don’t let the pot-holed parking lot and dense crowds deter you, however. Inside are cozy booths, counter seats, and old photographs that conjure up a nostalgia that you can't quite place - unless you have a Southern grandmother, that is. If the wait is too long, don't worry; as they say, 'Takeout is big at the Bee'.