our diet reflects …
food tells us where we came from …
who we have become

The sad theme of loss runs through all of Southern culture from way back. The black spirituals and blues are its musical expression. But its countertheme is endurance. Today, Southerners are more and more aware of their traditional foods as the rest of their culture blends into that of the nation as a whole. Certain dishes give identity to entire communities. Yearly, thousands of people flock to small towns all over the South for festivals in honor of such lowly foodstuffs as chitlins, ramps, and collards. A few years ago, most Southerners wouldn’t admit to still eating these foods. Now we see bumper stickers directing us to “Eat more possum.” It isn’t just a joke. We know we are Southerners because we do eat possum and grits and okra. When we no longer eat these foods, we no longer will be Southerners. Our diet reflects the history of the region and its people: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Our food tells us where we came from and who we have become.

From Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie by Bull Neal, Alfred A. Knopf. Inc., 1990.

I have lived in the south now for 15 years – 11 in Atlanta and 4 in the low country of South Carolina.

Sorry to say that it is easier to read about southern cooking than it is to find places that serve traditional southern food.

I know a place in Gainesville, Georgia where if you order a burger with everything, be prepared to see the burger arrive covered with coleslaw.

We found several places in the ATL area where you had a wide selection of boiled veggies like Okra or squash or black eyed peas along with collards.

Here in the low country the emphasis around here is sea food and what you can do with shrimp.

Happy to say that my wife can now turn out any number of shrimp dishes that will match whatever you can find in a local restaurant.

But the reading, boy howdy, do southerners love to write about the food they used to cook.

This cookbook is worth reading.

It has several recipes that I have used.

One for three layer cake, that has become a staple of the southern branch of the Hoffman family tree.

But I read it, and I read a lot of southern cook books and book about southern cooking.

And much of what is written about is wonderful to read, but hard to find if you want to eat it.

I want to eat it.

I love to read it.

I wish I had time to create it.

I talked with one local chef and told him that when I retire I want man the grill at a waffle house.

He looked at me and offered to let me come work with him and really learn to cook.

But when I said it was the speed of the lunch counter grill I wanted to master, he nodded his head and looked me in the eye and said, ‘Understand that … I understand that.”

Our food tells us where we came from and who we have become.