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Pimento Cheese; apparently it's a Southern thing?

post #1 of 64
1/26/10 at 1:47am
Thread Starter 
I grew up eating pimento cheese sandwiches all the time. Since I've always lived in the south, I had no idea (until last week) that it wasn't popular in the rest of the country. I then found this article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=6877304 It basically sums it up, I guess:
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Pimento cheese is so ingrained in the lives of many Southerners that we don't realize our passion for the stuff doesn't exist outside the region. Call me provincial, but I was shocked (shocked!) when I learned that everyday people from Boston to San Diego don't slap pimento cheese on bread for a quick lunch, or slather it across their burgers for a decadent treat.
I asked my friends from Boston, and they had never heard of it. Pimento cheese is one of those unique foods; it's incredible cheap and generations of kids have grown up on it. At the same time, it's not uncommon to find it at wedding receptions, graduation balls, etc. It's one of the most popular concessions at Augusta National during the Masters ($1.50 per sandwich, same for a sweet tea or Coke) It is incredible easy to make from scratch, and I might make some later this week (I have all the ingredients). Perhaps I'll take some pictures along the way. It's basically sharp cheddar, pimentos, mayonnaise, and some salt & pepper, and perhaps some hot sauce. There are, of course, tons of variations. One of the top 3 most popular sandwiches at the Master's (served in green cling wrap)
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post #2 of 64
1/26/10 at 3:18am
I like Pimento Cheese. There is a place called the Rockford in downtown Raleigh that has a really good Pimento cheese sandwich. Come to think, I haven't come across it up in the Northeast.
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post #3 of 64
1/26/10 at 9:48am
I had never heard of it until I spent a summer in Georgia. I grew to like it, especially on celery, but I still don't like the way it's spelled.
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post #4 of 64
1/26/10 at 9:54am
It's pretty gross stuff. Completely processed, and even when it's 'homemade' it's often just 'homemixed' processed cheese and mayonnaise. I'd rather eat fettesbrot or even just bread and butter.

Yes, it's really only in the south. I don't miss it at all.
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post #5 of 64
1/26/10 at 10:25am
As far as Southern foods go, it's not at the top of my list, but I still like it. My grandma used to make pimento and cucumber sandwiches. She grew the cucumbers in the backyard. How she did so successfully is beyond me, mine always turn out deformed.
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post #6 of 64
1/26/10 at 11:55am
I suspected it was a Southern thing, but, having never lived outside of the South, I wasn't sure.

If you decide to make some I'd love to see pictures. I don't have a recipe for it, so I'd be interested to see it made.
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post #7 of 64
1/26/10 at 12:04pm
I hadn't heard of it until very recently (last few months) and I grew up in the south for the most part, though my parents were not southerners and thus didn't expose me to much of the southern ways.
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post #8 of 64
1/26/10 at 12:17pm
I grew up eating it on occasion, and I live in the North. I had no idea it was a Southern thing, I thought it was a Black thing.
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post #9 of 64
1/26/10 at 12:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpeirpont View Post
I grew up eating it on occasion, and I live in the North. I had no idea it was a Southern thing, I thought it was a Black thing.

Well, given that most Northern black people were originally from the South, and that Southern whites have adopted many "black" foods/traditions/etc., it may have originally been a black thing. However, I'm fairly sure it originated in East Texas, which would tend to disprove that.
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post #10 of 64
1/26/10 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheIdler View Post
I had never heard of it until I spent a summer in Georgia. I grew to like it, especially on celery, but I still don't like the way it's spelled.

You can spell it pimiento, apparently.

Apparently it's popular in the Philippines too.
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post #11 of 64
1/26/10 at 1:17pm
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Originally Posted by FLMountainMan View Post
Well, given that most Northern black people were originally from the South, and that Southern whites have adopted many "black" foods/traditions/etc., it may have originally been a black thing. However, I'm fairly sure it originated in East Texas, which would tend to disprove that.

A goodly portions of things I thought were strictly black things growing up are southern things. I can't tell you how shocked I was when I met a white who ate Chitlins.
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post #12 of 64
1/26/10 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpeirpont View Post
A goodly portions of things I thought were strictly black things growing up are southern things. I can't tell you how shocked I was when I met a white who ate Chitlins.
There is often interesting cross-pollination. My great-grandfather was a rather well-to-do country doctor in the north around the turn of the last century. He was able to hire household servants, who were black, and they in turn basically raised my grandmother and her siblings. My grandmother passed on her cooking to my mother and aunts. My aunt was discussing Thanksgiving dinner at work a few years ago, and her black colleagues expressed great surprise that my aunt loved to eat the leftover turkey necks, which they thought was a black thing only. You never know how recipes and traditions get around!
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post #13 of 64
1/26/10 at 2:23pm
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Originally Posted by crazyquik View Post
One of the top 3 most popular sandwiches at the Master's (served in green cling wrap)

I've probably eaten over 50 of those sandwiches at the Masters over the years, which means I've spent barely over $50 based on their insane prices. Great stuff.
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post #14 of 64
1/26/10 at 3:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpeirpont View Post
A goodly portions of things I thought were strictly black things growing up are southern things. I can't tell you how shocked I was when I met a white who ate Chitlins.

Yeah, in weird ways, the South is a lot more integrated than people think. As for foods, many "black" foods were originally black because they were cheap and could be made from leftover items that the whites didn't want.
When the Civil War and Reconstruction made most of the white folks in the South poor too, black foods suddenly caught on among the general populace.
I thought it was funny and shocking when I saw people on the (predominately black) Southside selling raccoons (from a truck with a gigantic bedsheet spray-painted with "COONS FOR SALE") around Thanksgiving to eat. When I told my mom about it, she informed me that we ate "coon" every Thanksgiving until I was about five.
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post #15 of 64
1/26/10 at 6:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FLMountainMan View Post
Yeah, in weird ways, the South is a lot more integrated than people think. As for foods, many "black" foods were originally black because they were cheap and could be made from leftover items that the whites didn't want.
When the Civil War and Reconstruction made most of the white folks in the South poor too, black foods suddenly caught on among the general populace.
I thought it was funny and shocking when I saw people on the (predominately black) Southside selling raccoons (from a truck with a gigantic bedsheet spray-painted with "COONS FOR SALE") around Thanksgiving to eat. When I told my mom about it, she informed me that we ate "coon" every Thanksgiving until I was about five.

When I landed in Cincinatti on a flight, I got off the terminal and there was a shoe-shining station with a sign hung over the heads of its black workers that read 'Cincinatti Shines'.
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