Ophelia wrote:
>"l not -l" wrote:
>>Gary wrote:
>> > itsjoannotjoan wrote:
>> > >
>> > > In many Southern homes cornbread is on the table EVERY
>> > > night at dinnertime.
>> >
>> > And you know that how?
>> >
>> Ummmmmmm, because *I* live in the South. Does that
>> answer your question?
>> >
>> > Sounds like you are just stereotyping Southern people.
>> >
>> I've lived in the South ALL my life and I have a fair idea
>> of what we eat.
>> >
>> > Do all black people love watermelon and Moon Pies?
>> >
>> How did watermelon, Moon Pies and black people enter into
>> this conversation? I'm not black and I love watermelon
>> but I detest Moon Pies. If I live to be 100 and never see
>> another Moon Pie again it will be too soon.
>
>I lived in the south (Kentucky) from birth until I was 12, and continue to
>have ties (family and property) there still. One of my grandmothers had
>biscuits AND cornbread (or corn muffins, cakes, sticks, etc) on the table
>every meal I ever had there. Those grandparents were share-cropppers and
>had several family members working the fields; dinner (noon meal) always
>included feeding the "hands". My other grandmother, though she had in
>earlier years, did not cook for field hands; she always had biscuits OR
>cornbread on the table. One of my favorite things to eat as a child was
>cornbread with butter and sorghum.
>
>I have noticed that a lot of people don't really understand "southern" food.
>What is often called "soul" food is thought to be for African Americans; the
>reality is, it is what cash-poor people ate. Sometimes when I checkout at
>the supermarket an AA checker will ask me why I have collards, or hocks or
>smoked jowl or whatever. A share-cropper family ate the stuff they couldn't
>sell at a good price and, much of the year, had little cash; therefore
>bought only necessary pantry items. In addition to food from the garden, my
>grandparents would forage; we ate collards and other greens when my
>grandfather found them growing wild in/near his fields. Soul food is what
>people of limited means lived on; and, they learned how to make it taste
>great.
>
>In the western KY of my youth more people (black or white) thought more of
>cantaloupe varieties than watermelon; but, Moon Pies were a big seller at
>our general store. The three biggest selling "treats" at that store were
>Moon Pies, Bluebird brand personal pies (single serve) and Tom's peanuts
>poured into a bottle of RC cola.
>
>Thanks for sharing. I love hearing how families lived 'back in the day'!

Yes, very interesting post, learned about Tom's Peanuts... thank you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%27s_Snacks
I learned a lot about southern food in the navy being that about 75%
of the crew were southerners and of those more than half were black. I
was constantly being told the "right" way to cook this and that like
it was done at home, and lots of arguments ensued between southerners
from differeent areas, even from the same state. I quickly found out
that most southerners had never seen spaghetti, some wouldn't eat
those 'worms' while some tried it and liked it so much they could
easily consume a whole pound and more. One thing you may find
surprising is that southerners much prefered ham steaks with red eye
gravy and breakfast sausages to bacon, it was primarily the
northerners who prefered bacon and not too crisp, limp was prefered. I
baked an awful lot of corn bread in huge roasting pans, it was served
every day... no one wanted it with bacon grease, the most popular way
was drowned in white sauce with breakfast sausages (southern SOS).
Corn bread smothered with baked beans was also popular among
southerners. Northerners preferred pound cake and bread pudding.
That southerners like blackeyed peas has to be a myth, they only
wanted navy beans prepared Boston style... most every night I put up
an 80 quart kopper with beans (a la Heinz pork n' beans style), every
drop was eaten for breakfast. A kopper is a steam jacketed kettle,
there were no pots or stoves in a ship's galley.
This was home for four years:
https://ussjohnpauljones.org/images/...ernization.jpg
Couldn't find images of a DD galley. found an image of a DDE
(destroyer escort) galley:
http://www.ussslater.org/tour/decks/...ey/galley.html