All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter,
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
-Tolkien
Southern Food
A comment in the form of a question from @lyndsaybowes on a previous post inspired me to create a post dedicated to the magical southern food staple of grits. While I am working on that post, I thought I would share a previous ode to southern food from Devtome I wrote awhile back. I hope you enjoy!
Southern Food Is From The Heart
It will come to no surprise that Southerners have a true love affair with their local cuisine. It does not just represent meals and sustenance, but also the final product of sharing pieces of our souls with one another. Most everyone raised in the south will be able to give dreamy accounts of occasion after occasion of special moments tied to family and community dinners adorned with southern food. Our culinary creations of southern food are extensions of our personalities, family traditions, and ties to our land, friends, and families.
Blending Of Cultures Created Southern Food
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One of the most amazing elements to southern food is how its humble beginnings lie with simple people who had access to simple ingredients. Just like any other development of a regional culinary style, southern food was born out of the most available ingredients to that region. The blending of plants and farming techniques brought over with African slaves with the French influence originating in the Louisiana delta allow southern food to be a splendid mixture of races, cultures, and ingredients to culminate into a food style that is nothing short of magical. The dishes we are most famous for are based upon the items we had at hand during the forging of this great nation. For instance, most southerners would suffer from withdrawals if they were required to go more than a few days without our staples of sweet tea, grits, collards, or ribs. Although many of these came to us from the far corners of the Earth, we possess a unique talent in the south of taking something that starts out as foreign to us and adapting to allow it to become a very essential part of our cultural fabric.
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Southern food has been attacked by many because it can be judged as unhealthy or too rich, but just as with most everything in life, moderation goes along way keeping something good from evolving into something bad. From our local seafood to our wild hogs, we truly have a unique legacy in our southern food.
Shared under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) from my original work first published on DevTome .
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I would never have clicked on this if I hadn't wondered why the hell Tolkien is linked to fried chicken... he he he xx
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Lol. I thought everyone knew about Tolkien's obsession with fried chicken!
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The best thing about Steemit is the shit you learn.. he he...
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I love southern food, my brother lives in Tennessee and he is the one that introduced me to grits and the best fried chicken I have ever had. This post makes me hungry...Lol Fried chicken tends to make you feel better about life.
Little Joke for ya :
What do you get when you order a 'Hillary Clinton' at KFC?
Two breasts and a left wing.
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LOL Very funny joke! I couldn't live without my grits!
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Lol, I had some fried chicken yesterday and it was awesome! I always think it's funny to hear about southern food being unhealthy as I know plenty of southerners that have lived to a ripe old age. As you say moderation and most is cooked not just with love but from fresh ingredients which makes it more healthy than processed food. Great post @papacrusher!! Btw, never had wild hog but plan to one day!
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Omg, wild hog is the best! Back in my home town, we have a family friend who processes his own homemade sausage that blends wild pork with deer. It is the most amazing breakfast sausage I've ever had.
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thanks for sharing! i dont think i took enough advantage of southern food when i was living in north carolina...
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I feel the same way about seafood. I definitely didn't take enough advantage of it when I was living in Coastal Georgia.
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Wow, I never knew about this! Thanks for sharing, helps me to appreciate food MOREEEE!
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I love the development of regional foods and how they came to be. There is something special about knowing the history of what you are consuming.
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Absolutely true.
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That fried chicken photo got me here. Instantly got me craving some of it so I had to order some.
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Isn't it funny how much power fried chicken has over us humans? I'm the exact same way if I see a picture or smell some cooking...BOOM...I've got to get some. Thanks for your support and taking the time to comment.
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I guaran-damn-tee that fried chicken is way better for you than 142% of the chemical crap that goes into so-called health food. Mother Nature was right to get angry when Chiffon margarine tried to pass itself off as the healthier alternative to butter.
And, YUM!
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Man, that sounded just like a southerner! Thanks for the comment.
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I played a southern belle for a community theatre project years ago... every now and then it just slips out... LOL! And you're very welcome!
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