Word List for Writers #2: Distinctive Southern Foods

I’m currently in Oklahoma, taking care of my parents after my mom’s surgery, but I was able to make this short post. Like my first list of types of Southern people, this list will likely expand. I would love to have your suggestions, so write me at rickeyp@bayou.com.   Southerners like their food. Yankees like Southern food. Some foods are unique, distinctive, and are a part of the fabric and milieu of the South. Much can happen at a meal, or be explained or discovered at a meal.  You’re likely to encounter these foods in any Southern writer’s book. I tried to select food-words that are distinctly Southern.

1. chicory: An ingredient in some blends of Louisiana coffee. You can read more about chicory here:

2. mint julep: Traditional drink of the South. (sometimes spelled “julip”)  Here is a site of the recipe:

3. grits – coarsely ground corn meal. Here’s a site: http://www.grits.com/

4. Po Boy – a traditional Louisiana submarine sandwich. Can be made of meat or seafood–catfish, oysters, shrimp.  Bread is usually French.

5. Tabasco – The legendary king of pepper sauce! Here is their site: http://www.tabasco.com/main.cfm

6. Muscadine (sometimes muscadime) Wild (and sometimes cultivated) grapes of the Southeast. Called the Passion fruit of the South.  Makes a fine wine. Here is a great site: http://www.muscadine.com/

7. Louisiana foods: There is a long list here: Community Coffee, jambala, gumbo, boudin, etouffee,  sauce piquant, and many others.

2 thoughts on “Word List for Writers #2: Distinctive Southern Foods

  1. I remember the first time I read To Kill A Mockingbird (a LONG time ago as a young Nebraska girl and it’s still one of my favorite books to teach) and scuppernongs were mentioned I had to do a little investigation to find out exactly what they were. So I suggest you add it to the list since they are mentioned in a VERY southern book.

    “Scuppernong is the original variety of bronze muscadine discovered growing in the wild.”

    Another suggestion would be to add mayhaw.

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