Southern Cooking

What do you think of when you hear the phrase Southern cooking? Do you think of sweet treats like pecan pie or pralines? Do you think of tasty treats like biscuits and gravy? Do you think of stranger things like boiled peanuts? Well when thinking about Southern cooking, you can think of all these things and more. southern cooking is a style of cooking indigenous to the American South and it spans many years and many sub-regions. southern cooking has had many outside influences too. From the ingredients and recipes taught to the Southerners by the Native Americans who were living in the region before it was invaded by the white devils to the foods and recipes brought to the South by the cruelly enslaved Africans, to the French and Spanish influences brought by contact with people from those imperialistic countries. Southern cooking is actually an amalgam of many influences and a local adaptation of foreign foods and cooking styles.

Take black-eyed peas for instance. Black-eyed peas are a staple of the Southern diet and Southern cooking is replete with vast numbers of black-eyed pea recipes and dishes, but black-eyed peas are not indigenous to the American South. Most historians believe that black-eyed peas were brought to the south by the African slaves, although in some areas of the South there is evidence that the Native Americans were cultivating as a food source, Cow peas which are a relative of black-eyed peas. But the widespread cultivation and human consumption of black-eyed peas can be traced to the African slaves who wer able to hold on to a t least some small parts of their culture and influence Southern cooking.

Then there are peanuts. Although not actually a nut, peanuts are a big Southern cooking favorite. Peanuts require a long growing season so they are ideally suited to the American South and Southern cooking. Peanuts have a long and illustrious history in the South. The United States even had a president that among other things, was a peanut farmer. In Southern cooking, peanuts can be boiled, fried or roasted and they are all delicious.

This is just a small part of a long list of ingredients and dishes that are part of Southern cooking. Others worth mentioning are Blackberries, Collards, Grits and Sweet Potato Pie to name a few. So Southern cooking is many things and has had many influences. Over the years, Southern cooking has evolved and adapted and it has incorporated many fine foods and recipes from many great cultures and is now enjoyed by people who live in many places outside the American South.

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