A Southern Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving Buffet

A few years ago, a National Guard Unit in Eastern Arkansas served a Thanksgiving buffet. The whole Unit and their families were invited. A young officer that had recently moved south was part of the unit. The food in the Southern United States must have been different from what he was used to eating.

Most of the people got, what they considered, the usual turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy and other vegetables. After serving himself, someone saw the young officer just pushing his dressing around. That person thought that perhaps they could be helpful. The dressing was made of cornbread. The young officer had probably never eaten cornbread, much less cornbread dressing.The person tried to explain, "You probably eat stuffing at home. This is like stuffing but it is made with cornbread." The person thought that he had probably eaten stuffing made out of bread without any cornbread added, but he may have never eaten that either.

Uncommon Southern Food (Even in the South)

As he continued to poke at the dressing, the person thought about the things that many southern people do not eat any more. Older people would tease younger people sometime and try to get them to eat chitterlings. About twenty-five years ago there were restaurants that served frog legs as well as fried chitterlings. Many older people would buy a meat called souse at local grocery stores. One brand was icky, gooey and square. However, another kind was round. It came in hot or mild. Souse came from the deli section because it had to be sliced.

Boys would often tease girls about mountain oysters. When the girls found out what mountain oysters were, they would almost get sick and the boys would laugh. Yet, somebody, somewhere, sometime probably thought mountain oysters were a delicacy. Local stores had pickled eggs and pickled pigs' feet and many people ate them, but younger people began to lose interest in local food.

Changing Perspectives