DARE TO ASK: We just eat differently in South, y'all

By PHILLIP MILANO, The Times-Union

Question:

Why are Southerners' eating habits different from other areas? Who thought of grits? I never heard of a boiled peanut until I moved to the South from the West. A soft peanut just doesn't feel right. And the sweet tea down here is way too sweet. And everywhere you look is a barbecue restaurant.

Leslie, 42, Sanderson, Fla.

Replies

If you think our eating habits are strange, you ought to hear us talk. Utter day I et a holelot uv tatters n got a bellyache! Seriously, who eats grits, anyway? Nobody I know. Now, boiled peanuts, that's a different story. They are a great help to the digestion. Easy down, easy out!

Josh H., 23, Cleveland, Miss.

I happen to love grits and boiled peanuts. I also don't mind sweet tea. I'm sorry if you can't accept that this country does not require all its citizens to like the same thing.

Traci, 27, Jacksonville

Where have you found it written that peanuts must be parched, baked, deep-fried, salted and sold in a can?

Brady C., 53, Melrose

Let me guess, Leslie: when you say "back West," you mean The People's Republic of Califoregashingtonia, aka "Land of Granola Munchers." Southern food is what it is, and too bad if you're offended by grits, boiled peanuts and people eating meat.

Ann, 38, Kansas City, Mo.

Expert says:

Southern food hotshot John T. Edge has two words for those who gag over Dixie grub: Hangtown Fry.

"Explain to me the tradition of an omelet of oysters and eggs and bacon," challenged Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. "At first glance it sounds like a confounding combination, but ... that's big in California."

His point: "One man's succulence is another man's pestilence."

Southern food does seem to stand apart in many people's minds, however, mainly because the South itself stands apart, with its history of slavery and longer-lasting rurality, said Edge, author of A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South and Southern Belly (Putnam).

"If it hadn't been for the influence of Africa in the mix, Southern food would look a lot like Midwest food. Okra is an African vegetable. Watermelon, too. And techniques of Southern cookery -- cooking down in a low gravy -- has its roots in Africa. You could argue that frying in deep oil is African."

As for boiled goobers, peanuts grow in the South, and when they're fresh, they taste good boiled. But if you tried to export them raw to the North, by the time they arrived ... well, let's just say it wouldn't work.

Sweet tea? The South is where cane was raised, Edge said. Naturally, folks are going to acquire a sweet tooth.

But is ingesting fatty meat, lard and a mess of sugar healthful?

"It certainly was a working man's or woman's cuisine. It fueled you to plow the back 40," Edge said. "I think of that as healthy food. Nowadays it can be a celebratory food, enjoyed in moderation. Hey, I don't eat fatback and collard greens every day -- but I crave it."

Phillip Milano, author of I Can't Believe You Asked That! (Perigee), moderates cross-cultural dialogue at Y? The National Forum on People's Differences. Visit www.yforum.com to submit questions and answers, or mail to Phillip Milano, c/o The Florida Times-Union, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231. Include contact information.