Northern and Southern Foods

This thread is fascinating to me, as I grew up up New Hampshire but have lived in Jacksonville (more Southern than Floridian, by far) for 15 years. I've had the good and bad of both Northern and Southern cuisine.

I don't feel I can add much. I'm not ordering New England clam chowder, lobsters or steamers down here. And I'm not ordering BBQ, greens or grits in New England.

^^^This

I'll put She Crab Soup up against any style "chowdah" any day of the week.

MrSpeedy said:

I'm not ordering New England clam chowder, lobsters or steamers down here. And I'm not ordering BBQ, greens or grits in New England.

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After being in the military I decided that I'd try most foods at least once. If you don't try a different food you never know if you will like the food. While in the military I've eaten grits & other foods from most places I've been stationed. Some food I categorically will not eat. But when it comes to most seafood, I'm a major seafood eater. Growing up in New England you can't help but eat it. Every Friday was a fish meal of some sort. It tend to grow on you.

But I'm also aware that seafood isn't everybody's taste.

What about Chinese food in San Francisco or Italian food in New York? Those foods are not authentic to the original location.

Oddly, despite being Greek/Roma by genetics, spending most of my life in Iowa, and being raised around a lot of wonderful Hispanic people, my cooking and tastes tend to run Southern. My cornbread is NOT sweet (baked in a cast-iron skillet with bacon grease, no less), I can make gumbo to make a Cajun cry (it's happened), and I'd eat greens at every meal if I could. I can't make biscuits to save my soul, but I can sure whip up the gravy to drown them in. I guess Midwestern comfort food never really appealed to me. There's one dead giveaway that I'm from the Northland, though; I say "warsh" instead of "wash". Even I can't figure that one out.

Chinese food in San Francisco is much better than in Montana, thats for sure!

DoctorShavegood said:

Here's a southern classic that I'll trade. I Take that back...it's lunch time.

Chicken Fried Steak
View attachment 498771

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Now why in the world would anyone from the South wanna try something from the North when we have chicken fried steak and cream gravy?

Badmedicine said:

Oddly, despite being Greek/Roma by genetics, spending most of my life in Iowa, and being raised around a lot of wonderful Hispanic people, my cooking and tastes tend to run Southern. My cornbread is NOT sweet (baked in a cast-iron skillet with bacon grease, no less), I can make gumbo to make a Cajun cry (it's happened), and I'd eat greens at every meal if I could. I can't make biscuits to save my soul, but I can sure whip up the gravy to drown them in. I guess Midwestern comfort food never really appealed to me. There's one dead giveaway that I'm from the Northland, though; I say "warsh" instead of "wash". Even I can't figure that one out.

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Good post. Maybe be some of the south crept it's way into your area over the decades.

martym said:

Now why in the world would anyone from the South wanna try something from the North when we have chicken fried steak and cream gravy?

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I can always count on the Mart to bring it back to making any dang sense.

DoctorShavegood said:

What about Chinese food in San Francisco or Italian food in New York? Those foods are not authentic to the original location.

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Original location is probably not quite the right concept, but I could not think of another one. Local specialty, I suppose.

My overall thought is that a food that gets popular and stays popular in a particular place for a long time tends to create a discerning audience and thus the availability of quality items. My anecdotal experience is this theory does not completely hold up or does not apply consistently. In my experience all of the pizza in NYC is pretty darn good. I would guess that a store selling bad pizza would not be able to financially survive. But I am sure there are places where some of the pizza is good and some of it not so good, with folks still eating a lot of pizza. The croissants in France were invariably high quality, or at least each one every bit as good as the best I have had in the States. Maybe for the real expert some were better than others.

There is some excellent Chinese food in the Bay Area, but I would not say it is all above the national average at all.

The fact that some places have quite a few excellent frozen custard places does not seem to drive out other places that have pretty poor product.

And now I am told not all, or even the majority of, brisket in Texas is excellent!

DoctorShavegood said:

What about Chinese food in San Francisco or Italian food in New York? Those foods are not authentic to the original location.

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Well, I guess they are authentic. I think the "Americanized" versions of the immigrants food originated there, and therefore I would call them authentic foods.

I think nobody would argue that a New York pizza and a Sicilian pizza are the same food. The American pizza underwent the influence of innovation, cultures melting, and different ingredients becoming available. So it changed into something original American, in my opinion.

I love food and would be willing to try it all. Even food not native to the area just to compare.

Stranded said:

I love food and would be willing to try it all. Even food not native to the area just to compare.

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^^^This...
Europeanised Indian curries are different from true Indian curries. I am sure they are both nice in their own right but you will never know unless you try both.
I'm no food snob, give me food from North & South and lets not forget East & West.
If only I could travel the world on a eating tour. Since that is not going to happen I will have to live vicariously through you guys.....

cleanshaved said:

^^^This...
Europeanised Indian curries are different from true Indian curries. I am sure they are both nice in their own right but you will never know unless you try both.
I'm no food snob, give me food from North & South and lets not forget East & West.
If only I could travel the world on a eating tour. Since that is not going to happen I will have to live vicariously through you guys.....

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Then we we need to start you off with some southern goodness from heaven. As pictured on the first page, a good chicken fried steak with cream gravy, mashed potatoes and pinto beans. Greens beans are also a good addition.

I am curious about Kentucky burgoo.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/kentucky/burgoo

This thread is making me hungry.

One dish thats becoming more "trendy" through the south is Chicken and Waffles. Its starting to show up on some fancier menus.

Edcculus said:

This thread is making me hungry.

One dish thats becoming more "trendy" through the south is Chicken and Waffles. Its starting to show up on some fancier menus.

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I can do waffles and pancakes for dinner and chicken for breakfast, but I just don't think I could do chicken and waffles at the same sitting. Let me rephrase that. I wouldn't order it at a restaurant but if I were at someone's home or at a dinner and it was being served, I would eat it.

Edcculus said:

This thread is making me hungry.

One dish thats becoming more "trendy" through the south is Chicken and Waffles. Its starting to show up on some fancier menus.

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There's a rum bar in Ipswich, MA called S.A.L.T. By far! the best fried chicken I've ever had and they loaded it on a waffle, sprinkled it with pancetta and supplied bourbon maple syrup. For me though, the fried chicken could have been served alone it was that good.

I guess my point is that its somewhat trendy up here too.

I've wondered about Chicken and Waffles. Is the waffle savory or sweet? Another dish I have wondered about is Chipino (sp) I was told this was a west coast invention but I have seen it further east. Obviously I could be wrong. Is this a regional dish or is it an incarnation of all fishing locales?

Since you mentioned Chinese food I found this TED talk pretty interesting.