The history of southern food and culture are intrinsically intertwined. It is also as diverse as our regional accents. Our food is known for bold flavors, unique ingredients and our rich culinary history. Many dishes are a blend of African, Gullah, Gee Chee, Native American and European.
We love our sweet tea, pimento cheese, biscuits, corn bread, collards, okra, frog legs, Brunswick stew, grits, boiled peanuts and gumbo. We also enjoy steamed blue crabs that we eat outdoors on tables covered with newspapers, rolls of paper towels and plenty of cold beer.
Southern food plays a central role in our identity; fried green tomatoes, black-eyed peas, pecan pie, pimento cheese sandwiches, country ham and of course the occasional mint julep. The list of southern fare goes on and on. Our food is a reflection of our particular region of the south. It is also an integral part of our heritage and our hospitality. Chitlins might be one of those, a seriously authentic soul food. Hold on to your stomach, chitlins are made from the small intestines of a hog.
Entertaining is a part of our makeup, our DNA if you please. Frogmore Stew (no it’s not made with frogs), or Low Country Boil as we call it in our family, is a combination of seafood and vegetables. We prepare it in an 84-quart pot (feeds up to 36 hungry folks) boiled outside with shrimp, little neck clams, PEI mussels and occasionally snow crab legs. Vegetables include red skin potatoes, onions, celery and corn on the cob. Andouille sausage is also included and seasoning to include Old Bay, tabasco sauce and a six pack of cheap beer. Although we pride ourselves in setting a proper table, when this dish is ready to serve, we lift the strainer from the pot and pour it out on a large table. Then everyone gathers around and fills their plates.
Potlikker, no it’s not whiskey in a pot. It refers to the leftover water from cooking greens. Dirty rice is not unsanitary, instead it is made with rice and chicken livers. Pimento cheese is the caviar of the south. Another favorite is Red-Eye gravy. The story with Red-Eye gravy is that President Andrew Jackson requested gravy for his biscuits. He said that he wanted it as red as the cook’s eyes which were bloodshot from drinking the night before.
We also enjoy peanuts in our Cokes, fry bread, tomato and mayo sandwiches and fried chicken livers. When it comes to our food, we tend to be a pretty proud group, but even the proudest Southerner will admit that some of our foods might seem a little strange to some of y’all.
