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The American south has a long history of rich, cultural food traditions centering on flavorful homestyle southern cooking, family celebration and farming. Food characterizes the region’s varying personalities and underlying values.

John Egerton, author of
Southern Food says,

Southerners had known hunger, even starvation, and that knowledge had taught them to enjoy the moment, to feast when food was available, and to keep a wary eye on the future. Among all the classes – those who had plenty and those who had nothing and all the others in between – food was a blessing, a pleasure, a cause for celebration. The tradition of hospitality, of serving large quantities of good things to eat to large numbers of hungry people, of sharing food and drink with family and friends and even strangers, proved to be a durable tradition in the South, outliving war and depression and hunger.

The people of the south are largely hard working, steeped in family values and connected to the land they walk upon. I recently saw a sign that read “say what you will about the south, but nobody retires and moves up north.” The south gets a bad rap. It’s dirty and poor they say, but I think it is also a testament to the resourcefulness of the people. Their yards may be full of what we perceive as trash, but I have seen my neighbors save things that others would deem useless – they recycle items and use them in new ways, and actually fix things instead of throwing them away at the first sign of wear and tear. Maybe they live in a run down trailer, but whose to say that is more wasteful than the well-kept 3000 square foot home for a family of 3 sucking power from the grid? Self-reliance is more commonplace, not out of choice, but out of tradition. Hunting, and other “primitive” skills are big here, so is gardening, and that food contributes to many southern tables. The art of living simply and ‘primitive’ skills are still being practiced, by many folks here in the south.