Southern Food Appreciation Thread - Page 3

cf. Cracker Barrel, above.

GTFO of this thread.

+1. Twat

Chicken Fried Steak
Corn Bread
Mashed Potatos & Gravy
Biscuits and Sawmill Gravy
Pecan Pie
Sweet Tea with tons of cracked ice

K

I was in the southern US for independence day two years ago, and was entertained by a good ol' black southern family who fed me mac and cheese, fried chicken, and other assorted goodies.

It was fantastic. I love the south.

Sorry, but when I joined SF, I promised to tell the truth.

The truth about Southern cuisine is that it's nothing but deep-fried crap.

And I'm saying that as someone whose family arrived in Virginia in the 1630s and has been in the South ever since.

I love Southern cooking. YMMV.

Hey, so did I. You're a bigot.

Possibly a bigot, but he does claim to come from/reside in McLean, VA and Santa Monica, CA, the douche capital of the East and West Coast respectively.

I love southern food. I stayed for for 3 months once in Atlanta, I must have put on 20 pounds.

Who did you promise this to?


So tell us more about your ostracism.

Is mac and cheese considered Southern Food?

The baked version is very popular down here, and it's ubiquitous in Southern/Soul Food restaurants. I don't know if it would qualify exclusively as "Southern Food," but it's definitely a staple of the cuisine.

I was born and raised in southeastern Virginia, but currently reside in upstate New York. I lived for 5 years in Savannah, Georgia and 2 years in Houston, Texas (where I was a cook/chef in a nice restaurant and a hotel). For the last 14 years, I've taught culinary arts. You could basically say that my life is food. It's everything to me.

I honestly do think Southern Cooking is one of the great cuisines in the world, but is often mis-characterized. Fried food (other than chicken) is not the norm. Chicken-fried steak is more of a Texas thing, which is almost it's own cuisine. The cuisine actually reminds me a lot of Italian food:
polenta=grits
kale/broccoli rabe=collard/turnip greens
proscuitto=country ham
cannellini beans=black-eyed peas

In addition, I've found kindred spirits in the many Italians I've met in the North. They are as passionate about cooking as my family has always been. I've never once spoken to my Mom (by phone) when we didn't ask each other what we've eaten lately. We eat lunch and talk about what wer're planning for dinner. Vacations are built around our meals. Talk to anyone of heavy-duty Italian heritage and they will talk of Sunday suppers that lasted all day. Food is a true passion in the South. I believe it even bridges racial divides. While people like to stereotype Southerners as inherently racist, the fact is that there is very little difference between Southern food and soul food. They are basically one and the same. I've cooked some pretty nice dinners/functions in my life, but my proudest culinary moment occured in a hotel in Virginia. I was responsible for soups and made Brunswick Stew as the soup of the day. At lunch, the housekeepers (all African Americans) came to get the employee meal. They could get the employee selection (usually a sandwich or pasta), but when they found out Brunswick Stew was the soup of the day, they quickly consumed several gallons. After that day, this white boy was considered a serious cook!

I won't bother listing all the great Southern dishes. There are many and the fact that most people have an idea of Southern food when its mentioned says a great deal about it. What is Northern food? What is Pacific Northwest food? What is Mid-West food? I know what they are as food is my life, but most people couldn't really define these cuisines. Southern cuisine is known to almost all, even if it's only the poor examples of KFC or Cracker Barrel.

I also think that many/most people like the food they grew up with. Most of us consider our Mom's meatloaf or marinara to be the gold standard even though it might not be real good. Most people consider the pizza or the wings they grew up on to be the best, when it probably isn't. If you don't like Southern cuisine, you probably can't be convinced. If you grew up on Southern cuisine, then nothing can ever replace it.

I think some people associate southern cooking with fried everything from the chicken to the water. I consider this food slop and do not think of it as southern, though there is a fair share of it. True southern food is very good and does not revolve around eating seasoned fried batter.

I lived in New Orleans for a couple of years and had fried food maybe once (I think it was a soft shell crab). Now I want some crawfish etuffee or boudin.

Ahh, Grayland beat me to the fried food/southern classification.

+1. I've lived in the South my entire life (North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina), and the food is just incredible. I think shrimp & grits would be my last meal if I had to choose. You didn't like "plain" grits? You gotta throw in cheese, butter, and pepper... sometimes a bit of diced bacon! One cool thing about shrimp & grits, and Southern food in general, is that a seemingly basic plate can wildly vary from place to place (e.g., BBQ in Tennessee is nothing like BBQ in South Carolina). The best shrimp & grits I've ever had was at the Boathouse in Charleston. Unfortunately, the downtown location is now up for sale due to the economy. Charleston has also got quite a culinary heritage, both with traditional Southern foods and other regional/international cuisines. And I agree with those who have said that Southern food is not defined by being deep fried. Sure, everyone loves good fried chicken or fried okra, but the real defining characteristic is essentially the great interplay of flavors and ingredients. And, of course, the culture/hospitality experience adds to the effect. I'm also not a fan of sweet tea. Does that make me a bad Southerner?