Not just for shopping. Why I enjoyed eating lunch from Piggly Wiggly in Columbus
I grew up going to Piggly Wiggly in Dothan almost every weekend to shop for groceries with my family. I’d constantly ask my parents to get me Crystal Hot Sauce instead of the Piggly Wiggly brand while being told the Crystal Hot Sauce cost 20 cents more.
The deals almost always were unbeatable. I also would stop at the vending machines they had outside almost every day before high school and pick up two cans of Mountain Dew or Coca-Cola to get me through the day.
Recently, our visual journalist, Mike Haskey, sent me a Facebook post of someone praising the food at the deli in the back of the Piggly Wiggly on 13th Street in Columbus. Well, being someone who’ll never shy away from grocery store delis and gas station restaurants, I decided to try it for myself.
So, Mike and I hopped in my truck and drove to “The Pig” (as some people call it).
The smell coming from the deli reminded me of some of my favorite meat-and-three restaurants from throughout my life in the South. Some of the classic staples on the hot bar included fried chicken, fried fish, mashed potatoes, turnips, cabbage, okra and tomatoes, black-eyed peas and green beans.
I was stuck between getting the fried chicken and the fried fish. I settled on the fried chicken with turnips, cornbread and mashed potatoes with gravy — the classic Southern meal.
Mike went with the fried fish, cabbage, cornbread and okra with tomatoes.
After receiving our order, we headed back to the office and dug in. The crunch from my first bite into the fried chicken sounded as sweet as the school bell ring at the end of a day.
The chicken was crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside, with the hot sauce I added giving it a small zing. The chicken was well seasoned and better than some I’ve had at fried chicken chain restaurants.
The mashed potatoes were thick, perfectly salted and paired nicely with the hearty brown gravy.
The turnip greens were amazing. They were soft with a slight hint of pork flavor. Good turnips don’t require pepper sauce (though it never hurts to add it anyway). These definitely didn’t require pepper sauce — but I added some Tabasco only because I wanted to.
The cornbread was soft and had a hint of spice from what I believe to be red bell peppers. It was a surprising twist to the dish but a welcomed addition.
So, if you’re craving fried chicken and all the fixings, head to “The Pig.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.