let's keep the secret

[6pak]

This was written by Robert St. John, executive chef and owner of the Purple Parrot Cafe, Crescent City Grill and Mahogany Bar of Hattiesburg , MS.

Thirty years ago I visited my first cousin in Virginia . While hanging out with his friend, the discussion turned to popular movies of the day.

When I offered my two-cents on the authenticity and social relevance of the movie Billy Jack, one of the boys asked, in all seriousness; 'Do you guys have movie theaters down there?' To which I replied, 'Yep. We wear shoes too.'

Just three years ago, my wife and I were attending a food and wine seminar in Aspen , Colo. We were seated with two couples from Las Vegas . One of the Glitter Gulch gals was amused and downright rude when I described our restaurant as a fine-dining restaurant.

' Mississippi doesn't have fine-dining restaurants!' she insisted and nudged her companion. I fought back the strong desire to mention that she lived in the land that invented the 99-cent breakfast buffet.

I wanted badly to defend my state, my region, and my restaurant with a 15-minute soliloquy and public relations rant that would surely change her mind. It was at that precise moment that I was hit with a blinding jolt of enlightenment, and in a moment of complete and absolute clarity it dawned on me -- my South is the best-kept secret in the country. Why would I try to win this woman over? She might move down here.

I am always amused by Holly wood 's interpretation of the South. We are still, on occasion, depicted as a collective group of sweaty, stupid, backwards-minded, racist rednecks. The South of movies and TV, the Holly wood South, is not my South.

This is my South:

 

"My South is full of honest, hardworking people. My South is the birthplace of blues and jazz, and rock n' roll. It has banjo pickers and fiddle players, but it also has BB King, Muddy Waters, the Allman Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Elvis - and Leontyn Price.

My South is hot. My South smells of newly mowed grass. My South was kick the can, creek swimming, cane-pole fishing and bird hunting.

In my South, football is king, and the Southeastern Conference is the kingdom.

My South is home to the most beautiful women on the planet.

In my South, soul food and country cooking are the same thing.

My South is full of fig preserves, cornbread, butter beans, fried chicken, grits and catfish.

In my South we eat foie gras, caviar and truffles. In my South, our transistor radios introduced us to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones at the same time they were introduced to the rest of the country.

In my South, grandmothers cook a big lunch every Sunday, so big that we call it dinner (supper comes later).

In my South, family matters, deeply.

My South is boiled shrimp, blackberry cobbler, peach ice cream, banana pudding and oatmeal cream pies.

In my South people put peanuts in bottles of Coca-Cola and hot sauce on almost everything.

In my South the tea is iced and almost as sweet as the women. My South has air-conditioning.

My South is camellias, azaleas, wisteria and hydrangeas.

In my South, the only person that has to sit on the back of the bus is the last person that got on the bus.

In my South, people still say 'Yes, ma'am,' 'No ma'am,' 'Please' and 'Thank you.'

In my South, we all wear shoes....most of the time.

My South is the best-kept secret in the country.

Please continue to keep the secret....it keeps the idiots away."

[Freebird]

WOW...now you went and told everybody here...and they will tell somebody else...and those people will tell other people...and ....EVERYBODY will know.

 

Yep...you've done it now.

[oldgoat]

well hot dang and shut my mouth i love the south:cool10: but i live in central Illinois but its nice here good pepole at least in my neighborhood?

Edited June 1, 2011 by oldgoat
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[bryan52577]

DANG it, I just had lunch and read'in this I'm hungry again!

Bryan

[Phoneman1981]

Hello: Well written. Hope to visit someday...

[Art708]

Hell Yes!!

[Merlin]

I haven't really been to the south, with the exception of Florida. Spent most every minute of my life here in New England/New York.

 

But I really want to go there. Everyone I've met from the south is very friendly and polite.

 

I just don't like those grits or that white gravy they put on biscuits, I've tried them. It would probably take some time to get used to the food.

 

But the people are great, and I second the comment about the ladies.

[RandyR]

amen...

 

(except for the hot sauce part).

 

I just don't like those grits

 

You haven't tried my spam and grits for breakfast yet, have ya ???

[Motorcycle Mike]

I haven't really been to the south, with the exception of Florida.

I just don't like those grits or that white gravy they put on biscuits, I've tried them. .

Florida is not the south, it's Florida.

If you haven't had grits or gravy made by someone from the south, give them another try when you get here. Folks up north just don't know how to cook them.

 

I remember when Atlanta was a southern city. Now it's just a city in the south.

[abnormalwon]

"Florida is not the south, it's Florida."

 

And true regarding Atlanta too. It is now just like NY and NYC, two completely different beasts, one is incredibly awesome while ...... NYC is just that.

[etcswjoe]

amen...

 

(except for the hot sauce part).

 

You haven't tried my spam and grits for breakfast yet, have ya ???

 

 

Shrimp and Grits and gotta have hot sauce!!1

[DragonRider]

I couldn't have said it any better my self................:clap2:

[KarlS]

That is why I want to move to "your South" Someday. Been trying to get head for the last 5 years so I could move. Now I want some cornbread and beans. And I hated Grits until I had them in Alabama.

[FuzzyRSTD]

This is good. Thank you. I hate it when jokes are made about the Hillbilly. I am not talking about the small talk jokes, but the television broadcast type that wants to portray us as barefoot and ignorant. If you do not want this old Hillbilly in your face, then please do not joke with me about this. I am a Southern Hillbilly and I am proud of it.

 

Yes we do have the most beautiful women. For supper just now, I had home grown corn on the cob,green beans,chicken and dumplings. Cooked here in my home by my most beautiful wife and grown right here in the dirt of this farm. I love peanuts in a bottle of Coke or Pepsi, not to bad with our own Winchester,Ky green bottle of Ale Eight either. Hot sauce I can not handle like I use to, but every now then I eat it anyway, knowing that it will make me sick later. But that is OK by me,my choice, because I am from the south, and thank God I live in the land of the free.

 

Remember those who have gave all for our wonderful freedom in the South/North/East/West. United States of America. OK, I am off my high horse now, I am done.

 

Fuzzy