Wow.
Ok, maybe you're on to something. Admittedly, maybe I haven't actually spent enough time in Georgia myself to notice, or maybe you hit upon a really bad spot.
I was mostly speaking from my experience in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, as I only occasionally passed through Georgia.
Man, I love the South. In particular at the people and the food. The food....ooh, mama.
Spent four and a half months on a road trip in the mid nineties. My wife and I were relocating to the Island we live on now. We bought a pop up camper, attached it to our SUV, put our two dogs in the back and off we went. Drove just shy of nineteen thousand miles. Hell of a great trip!
Weāre both foodies, we had a well stocked mini fridge and a two burner propane stove in the camper. But once a week, maybe twice, weād seek out a local eatery. Weād be on the Interstate from region to region, but once we got to a new region, we went on all secondary and local roads. You canāt experience much on an Interstate, canāt meet local people or really try local food.
Soā¦.weāre on a local road in Alabama, going through some nice small towns, the dogs asleep in the back of the SUV. Suddenly, they get up quickly, their noses in the air, sniffing out the opening in the window. Then it hits us. The smell of food, good food, meats cooking, sweet vegetables cooking. We see where itās coming from and immediately pull over and go in.
Itās a place owned by three brothers. They built it the year before. Cafeteria style, go up to the counter, order and have a seat, sit a spell, take a load off. Weāre talking to two of the brothers and they ask, āWhat brought you in, it was the smell, wasnāt it?ā We tell him, heck yeah!
The seating section is decorated with old license plates, all spiffed up of course, wagon wheels, odd things, all which they procured from a local dump. As well as most of the material they used to build the place. They had all been in construction.
They say, āCāmon back to the kitchen, weāll show you what we did.ā So we go back with them.
Thereās a beauty of a flat top cooking area, clean and shiny, but above it is an elaborate ventilation system that they built themselves. Thereās also a large crank. They could turn the outside vents in any direction they wanted, which they did every time the wind changed.
We had a wonderful meal of southern food, spent a couple hours chatting with them, then got some chow to go. And this food was SO good. Mouth watering, drool down your shirt good.
About a week later weāre at a campground in Mississippi. After a few days we go to the guy who runs the place, John, and ask him if he can recommend a place to get some good home cooking. He says, āHave a seat, let me tell you about this place.ā
Tells us the place used to be a funeral home for many years. Big old place, three story southern home. The funeral home employed four black women who were housekeepers and cooks. The owners of the Funeral Home had no children. They closed it and left it to the women, free and clear. Told them āYouāll always have a place to live and call your own. But if youāre smart, youāll make it some kind of restaurant, and live upstairs, because you gals are the best darn cooks anyone has ever knownā. And thatās just what they did.
He told us, "itās open for breakfast until ten, then closes and reopens from 4-8. But you all will want to get there by 3:15 and wait, because there's going to be a long line by 4 oāclock. And thatās what we did.
In line, everybody was talking to everybody. Made us feel like we were home, a wonderful time. They don't call it Southern Hospitality for nothing.
Finally, in we go. Cafeteria style. As soon as you see the food, you know. It all looks like it came from a photo shoot of Gourmet Magazine, Southern style. My wife and I have three trays. One apiece and one to take home. Best fried chicken weāve ever had, the collared greens were just ridiculous, as was the okra, mashed potatoes, yams brisket, breads and cornbread. Man, it was just nuts.
It was also the most inexpensive food weāve encountered to this day. Best food weāve ever had.
Damn, I'd like to go back there some day. I'm getting hungry just writing about it.