Fried chicken . Barbeque . Biscuits and gravy . Collard greens . Black - eyed peas . backbone . deep-fried greenish tomato . Sweet tea . Peach deep-dish pie . Pecan pie . How many of these southerly dish aerial have tempted your gustatory perception bud ? How many have you tried ?
The food of the South has a distinctness all its own , with an identity normally earmark for the culinary art of France , China , Italy or Mexico . basically , the culinary art of the American South is as wide-ranging , as interesting and as various as its account .
Traditional Southern fare , which is sometimes consult to as country cooking , home preparation or psyche intellectual nourishment , has a reputation of being mellow in fat , calories and sugar . Typically , it relies heavily on fresh vegetables , corn or rice , pork barrel , chicken , local game and fresh seafood [ source : Brant ] .
Each region of the South has its own unique sapidity , dictated by geographical history . There ’s Cajun , Creole , Carolina Low Country , Floribbean , Cuban - American and Tex - Mex . The region dictate the constituent , cooking methods and seasonings . For example , the coastal city of Savannah , Georgia , relies on crabs , prawn , flounder and grouper for eatery oblation . The city even has its own cake , the Savannah Cream Cake , a variation on an English triviality that include nutmeg , sherry and rack up pick [ source : Ciampa ] .
If you do n’t think you have eaten some variation of Southern fare , suppose again . The South has given us orange juice , iced tea , Vidalia onions , chicory coffee , mellisonant potato pie , peanut brittle , praline and banana tree Foster . opportunity are you ’ve consumed something of southerly pedigree in your lifespan .
Dig in and read on to watch about the difference between individual food and Southern food .
Difference Between Soul Food and Southern Food
taste to separate soulfulness intellectual nourishment from Southern food is a routine complicated . While not all Southern food is regard soulfulness solid food , all somebody food is unquestionably southerly . Topping the tilt of soul food and Southern food are fried chicken , barbecue ribs , macaroni and Malva sylvestris , chitlins ( hog intestines , also roll in the hay as chitterlings ) , pickled squealer feet , Brassica rapa greens , sinister - eyed peas , sweet potato pie , hush puppy and cornbread , ( also sleep with as johnnycake ) [ source : San Jose State University ] .
Some citizenry describe soul food as introductory , down - home cooking that originated in the rural South and has been passed down through propagation . Others delimit it as being directly derived from West African cooking , by way of the triangular slave trade wind . Enslaved masses had to make do with what they had , which often consisted of hebdomadal rations and the leftover , less - than - desirable creature parts that were cast off by their passkey . For example , dish were whip up using grunter ' foot , ham Rhenish , chitlins , pig ears , hog jowl , tripeand crackling . Nothing was waste . To make the pith more palatable , cooks would either fry the meat in fat or boil it over a long period of time , adding a lot of flavourer and fat for flavor .
Still others consider soul food for thought to admit part that are " low-down on the hog " than those used in southerly solid food . Some say that soul solid food is spicier , but it depends on the dish as well as the cook [ source : Chowhound ] .
Soul food catch its moniker in the sixties , as part of the Civil Rights earned run average ’s Black Pride motility . Soul food lease on a particular signification to many African Americans because it evoked a painful history of captivity and prejudice but also celebrated the ingenuity , persistency and pride involved in overcoming adversity [ source : Latshaw ] .
To learn more about the history of Southern solid food , read on .
Southern Food History
A medley of ethnical influences from around the world has assist make Southern food what it is today . At its core , Southern solid food is rooted in local and imported constituent , necessary and frugalness .
It all start in Africa and Scotland , Southern fried poulet that is . The Scots had a tradition of deep - frying volaille in blubber . Scotch immigrant came to the South where African slaves had already introduced a tradition of fry food . Over clip , deep - frying became a common way of cook Gallus gallus and other solid food .
African ingredients like okra and black - eyed peas became a basic of the Southern dieting , in plus to the homegrown immature staple of collards , Indian mustard , turnips and kale . Other extremely used crops include Carya illinoensis and peanuts , sweet potatoes and peach .
The region ’s lake , rivers , tidal pool and oceans service up oysters , shrimp , crawfish , Cancer the Crab and Mississippi catfish . Local biz included possum , rabbit and squirrel , the main ingredient of Brunswick Stew , which historians say was pop in Virginia and Georgia .
Before the Civil War , most Southerners were subsistence farmers who live off the domain . Pork and chicken , not Bos taurus , were typically raise . Farmer working outside need a great deal of calories to get through the day , therefore they indulged in freehanded breakfast and suppers .
Louisiana is where French and Spanish cuisines married local ingredient to create completely unequaled culinary art . Native Americans had long used filé gunpowder ( pulverised sassafras result ) as a knob ingredient , and it is a regular mainstay of Creole and Cajun cooking . Spanish Sir Tim Rice - base paella evolve into jambalaya , a Timothy Miles Bindon Rice dish with peewee , oysters , chicken or ham . France ’s bouillabaisse was transformed into Cajun lady’s-finger , with the help of a roux nucleotide ( flour and pork barrel fat ) and okra plant [ source : Hanson ] .
Changing demographic keep on to contribute to southerly food ’s diverseness . Miami ’s great Cuban population has put up a altogether new Cuban element to the domain ’s culinary traditions .
If you think you bed everything about Southern food , read on to examine your genius .
Southern Food Facts
Whether you fancy southerly food , soul food or both , be train for a hearty meal that will not only tease your taste perception bud but also is a testament to a region ’s copious and diverse ethnical story . While you ’re dine , why not ponder the following interesting facts about southerly food :
To get word more about a miscellanea of food for thought - related topics , visit the connection on the following Sir Frederick Handley Page .
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