A Southern Thanksgiving

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

Back at the Thanksgiving buffet, the local person at the table looked at the dressing. The person tried to look at it from the young officer's point of view. When that person was young, kids would make a mixture of "stuff" and throw it on the floor to get out of going to school. It would not take much to turn cornbread dressing into the perfect consistency of that "stuff."

Happy Thanksgiving to the Officer!

No matter, the local person still enjoyed it. Dressing was part of Thanksgiving in the South. Cornbread dressing was part of The South that no amount of education, traveling, or gross thinking could discourage many people in the South from eating. It was not a requirement for the young officer to eat cornbread dressing. It was a requirement however that he stay well nourished and the other person hoped he felt comfortable replacing his dressing with something else. How could the local person help make this Thanksgiving special for the young officer? Despite the dressing, perhaps it was a special Thanksgiving for him!

A Cultural Thing

The dressing was a cultural thing (neither bad nor good) just like so many other people and places around the world have their culture. The southern United States (and the different regions of that south), the northern United States (and the different regions of the north), the eastern United States (and its different regions) the western United States (and its regions) and....let us not forget Alaska and Hawaii with all their regional differences have their own culture that just comes naturally to them.

Definitions:

Chitterlings:
Pig intestines, carefully cleaned. They are usually fried.

Frog Legs:
First, you go frog giggin. Then you have fried frog legs.

Mountain Oysters:
These are bull testicles.

Pickled eggs:
They are pickled eggs.

Pickled pigs' feet:
They are (very pink) pickled pigs' feet and they are ugly too.

Souse:
Also known as, hogs head cheese; souse is a jellied sausage. People originally made it from the meaty parts of the head of a pig. Now it may include the edible parts of the feet, tongue, and heart. The meat cooks until it falls off the bone. A jell forms from the marrow of the bone. This jell is then used when the chopped meat is cooked again in a mold. A more modern brand of souse involves adding gelatin.