FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - $40 A DAY in NC

wrote:
> I watched in horror Rachel Ray's $40 A Day show in my hometown of Chapel
> Hill, NC.
>
> I know they do research, that she just doesn't walk around town in one day
> and find all these neat places to eat. That lame bit about her checking a
> local bookstore and happening upon Mama Dip's book was just so staged.
> Anyway her staff should be shot because they are total idiots for their
> menu selections. She goes to Mama Dip's and gets freaking gumbo? Holy shit
> that's like going to Louisiana and getting BBQ. No one native to NC eats
> gumbo. Isn't the point of the show to eat the local fare? I mean, this is
> NC and Mama Dip's is famous for traditional black and southern cuisine.
> That includes fried chicken, chitlins, chicken and dumplins, not friggin'
> gumbo!
>
> Then the real kicker was her going to the BBQ Joint. Look, if you have
> never been to eastern NC you don't understand what BBQ is and how to eat
> it. It's slow cooked pork that is usually chopped and mixed with a spicey
> vinegar sauce. That's simple enough. It's what she didn't get with it that
> totally blew my mind. The *traditional* side dishes are cole slaw, which
> she got by default. Another traditional side side and a real must have
> when eating BBQ is brunswick stew. Hushpuppies are also traditional. What
> does that idiot Rachel Ray get? Well, she didn't actually order it, she
> let one of the owners recommend it (obviously that was totally setup,
> too). Now get this, he recommends BRUSSEL SPROUTS!!!!!! LAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>

I more or less have to agree with you, being from N.C. Brussel Sprouts
with BBQ was a very strange choice. OTOH, I'd be more likely to have a
bowl of gumbo in front of me then a plate of chitlins. Bobby Flay also
had a segment on the BBQ Joint in Chapel Hill, though he didn't actually
visit. Probably shot the same day by the same crew that was with RR. I
thought the BBQ Catfish looked unusual. It looked very tasty, but not
something commonly found on a Carolinian's plate in my experience. And
with the BBQ, you've GOT to have BBQ Slaw, the red stuff. Cole slaw just
doesn't cut it.