50 Fun Facts About Southern Food

Grits are a porridge made from which grain?

The coarsely ground, nixtamalized maize is also called hominy.

Which Native American crop trio was known as the Three Sisters?

The three were grown together in rotation as dietary staples.

Which of these vegetables did enslaved West Africans introduce to the South?

Black-eyed peas, sesame, sorghum and melons came the same way.

Which Lowcountry people made rice prominent because they already knew the crop?

Planters sought enslaved Africans from rice-growing regions for their irrigation skills.

Fried chicken in the South traces partly to frying traditions from which European country?

West Africans added their own seasoning and palm-oil frying techniques.

The Southern biscuit evolved from which British baked good?

Scones travelled well on ships; Southerners made them fluffier and poured gravy on them.

Chicken and dumplings is said to descend from which German food?

German settlers reached Jamestown as early as 1608.

What did Confederate soldiers eat instead of wheat hardtack?

Wheat was grown in few Southern states beyond Georgia and Virginia.

Who self-published the earliest known African-American cookbook, in 1866?

It was a pamphlet called A Domestic Cookbook.

What are ashcakes?

Cornbread remains the staple bread of the Appalachian mountains.

Which three states were outside McDonald's 'biscuit zone' when it first mapped the South?

Everywhere else in the South got biscuits instead of Egg McMuffins.

Which Atlanta restaurant did Martin Luther King Jr use to 'eat, meet, rest, plan, and strategize'?

Georgia Gilmore's eatery in Montgomery played a similar role.

Alabama's 'white barbecue sauce' is based on what?

It is usually served with smoked chicken.

Yellow barbecue sauce, unique to one Southern state, has which base?

It is a legacy of mass German immigration in the mid-1700s.

Which is the only state that traditionally features all four recognised barbecue sauces?

Mustard, vinegar, and light and heavy tomato.

Eastern North Carolina barbecue uses which kind of sauce?

Lexington style in the centre of the state adds ketchup; the west goes heavier still.

Memphis barbecue is distinctive for what?

Flavour comes from the rub; sauce is served on the side.

Which city is known for hot chicken from places like Prince's Hot Chicken Shack?

Bolton's, Hattie B's and Biscuit Love are other local names.

What is a 'pig pickin''?

Whole-hog barbecue gatherings are a tradition in Virginia and the Carolinas.

A Southern 'beans and greens' meal typically uses the greens of which vegetable?

They are stewed with a little diced turnip and a piece of fatback.

Hoppin' John combines rice with which legume?

Onion, pepper and bacon or salt pork complete the Lowcountry dish.

Which sandwich did Garden & Gun call 'the south's most beloved'?

Tomato, mayo and white bread; the New York Times said Southerners wait for it all year.

Boiled peanuts are linked to which 1866 song about Civil War rations?

The practice of boiling peanuts was adapted from West African culture.

Country Captain is a Southern dish of rice and chicken flavoured how?

George Patton asked to be met at the train with a bucket of it.

A cook in Columbus made Country Captain famous by serving it to which president?

Patton became another famous devotee.

Chess pie is traditionally made with eggs, butter and what?

Lemon chess is a fruity variation; the mixture came to Virginia from England.

Which species is farmed in the Mississippi Delta and fried in cornmeal?

Fried in cornmeal, it is served with hot sauce, fries and slaw.

Which wild onion is an Appalachian spring staple with its own festivals?

Appalachia also uses butter heavily but little cheese.

Which state is the top rice producer in the nation?

Riceland rice and sweet corn are staples of the state's southeast.

Which state is home to Key lime pie and 'swamp cabbage'?

Its Caribbean-influenced fusion cooking is called Floribbean.

Which state is known for Burgoo, beer cheese and the Hot Brown?

It is also the home of KFC.

Which two states produce the most catfish in the United States?

Mississippi's farm-raised catfish is served in traditional 'fish houses'.

Which state has an official state meal including chicken fried steak and fried okra?

It ends with strawberries and a slice of pecan pie.

Which sweet onion variety comes from the state known for peaches and pecans?

Peaches, pecans and peanuts are the state's other calling cards.

Brunswick stew takes its name from a town in which state?

The state also produces Smithfield ham and Virginia peanuts.

Pepperoni rolls are most popular in which state?

The pepperoni fat melts into the white bread roll as it bakes.

Which layered dessert is a Chesapeake Bay speciality alongside blue crabs?

Soft-shell crabs are the other Chesapeake speciality.

Which state declared grits its official prepared food in 2002?

A similar South Carolina bill never advanced, though the state has a whole chapter of grits law.

What was the 'grits belt' region once called in the Charleston area when grits were cooked?

Three-quarters of US grits are sold in the South.

The oldest known sweet tea recipe, from 1878, called for which kind of tea?

Black tea took over during World War II when green-tea supplies were cut off.

Which 1878 community cookbook printed the oldest sweet tea recipe?

Its author was Marion Cabell Tyree.

Who created the Hot Brown at Louisville's Brown Hotel in 1926?

He devised it as an alternative to late-night ham and eggs.

The Hot Brown is an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon under which sauce?

It is a variation on Welsh rarebit.

Key lime pie filling is made with egg yolks, lime juice and what?

Ripe Key limes are yellow, which is why the filling is not green.

Key lime pie became an official state pie in which year?

Statute 15.052 made it official.

Pimento cheese has been nicknamed the caviar of what?

It has also been called the 'pate of the South'.

At which golf tournament have pimento cheese sandwiches been sold since the 1940s?

A 2013 supplier change caused a minor uproar over the changed taste.

Which Texas town claims to be the birthplace of chicken fried steak?

The dish is usually credited to German and Austrian immigrants and their schnitzel.

Since what year has Churchill Downs promoted the mint julep with its famous Derby?

About 120,000 juleps are served over Oaks and Derby weekend.

Hushpuppies got their name, by one story, from being fed to what?

The earlier South Carolina version was called 'red horse bread'.