― Homer has taught us well. (nickalicious), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:54 (twenty years ago) link
― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:55 (twenty years ago) link
And I agree that South Florida isn't really "the South." It's more like Cuba.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:57 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:57 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:58 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:59 (twenty years ago) link
Oh:FriendlinessGreat service, ie waiters/waitressesRelaxed pace
― oops (Oops), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:00 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:00 (twenty years ago) link
Some cajun food is OK, but keep the crawfish away from me. They're insects that live in the mud. Horrible nasty little vermin that actually *taste* like mud if you don't season them right. Sometimes you bite into one to find that it still has mud in it. Oh horrible, most horrible.
And gumbo? This is not cuisine. This is what prisoners and exiles found in the swamp they'd been banished to. Oh, look, okra! Bleeeargh.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:01 (twenty years ago) link
Also, people really are more polite here. Though there's usually some intense hatred lurking underneath the politeness. Guess we got it from our colonial forefathers.
― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:01 (twenty years ago) link
― gareth (gareth), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:02 (twenty years ago) link
I kill you, Kenan :)
Actually, lots of gumbo isn't made with okra. I know that's where the word comes from, but that's sort of like the old-fashioned gumbo. It's fallen out of fashion. I'm not crazy about it myself, most of the time.
(They weren't prisoners and exiles so much as misled landless nobility.)
Crawfish are just lobster! It sounds like you've had them mis-prepared or fished from the wrong places.
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:04 (twenty years ago) link
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:04 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:05 (twenty years ago) link
Either way, they were there because other people didn't want them around. Which is American as hell, and I'm all for it. No value judgement there. It's just... swamp food. Icky poo.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:07 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:08 (twenty years ago) link
I actually realized as soon as I hit submit that I was talking more about New Orleans, and you were talking more about Acadiana. Habitual lapse for me.
Turning this around: there is a cultural appreciation for the underdog stemming from numerous unrelated reasons (and therefore affecting even those people who reject one reason or another).
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:11 (twenty years ago) link
Fresh local produce for the majority, if not entirety, of the year.
Hurricanes get names. Ever heard of a blizzard with a name? No. You know why? Cause they suck.
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:15 (twenty years ago) link
Most of the rest of the local Southern specialties are fantastic. Barbecue, for one. Soul food in general -- mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, chicken fried steak, sweet cornbread, green beans. These are a few of my favorite things.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:17 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:19 (twenty years ago) link
Manatees.
The Banjo.
Waffle house
― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:21 (twenty years ago) link
I'll second chicken-fried steak. I remember the first time I ordered it -- in New Hampshire -- with no idea what to expect. A battered T-Bone? A steak which had somehow been wrapped in chicken? Was it just a fancy term for a chicken breast? The answer was so much better than I could have hoped.
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:22 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:26 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:27 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:28 (twenty years ago) link
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:28 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:28 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:32 (twenty years ago) link
Hm, let me think about the rest of the South, though. Oh! Good for road trips. Road trips in or through the South are the best. You don't have the urban sprawl of so much of the North, and you don't have the featureless homogeneity of so much of the Midwest.
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:35 (twenty years ago) link
― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:35 (twenty years ago) link
― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:40 (twenty years ago) link
I liked the rest of southern Louisiana though.. aside from the maelstrom of nutria roadkill everywhere. I stopped in Rayne (Frog Capital Of The World) for a little. I actually had to call some guy for a job interview that day! It was really bizarre.
― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:40 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:42 (twenty years ago) link
― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:43 (twenty years ago) link
Nick, why on earth would you be scared of it?!
I stopped in Rayne (Frog Capital Of The World) for a little.
Oh my God. That's honestly my favorite place in the world. Did you go to the truckstop (it's very visible) with the boudin balls?
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:47 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:47 (twenty years ago) link
Also, the citrus fruit and strawberries will put you off their lesser regional equivalents for life. (Might not apply if you live in California.)
― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:48 (twenty years ago) link
― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:49 (twenty years ago) link
― ModJ, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:49 (twenty years ago) link
― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:49 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 18 August 2003 17:49 (twenty years ago) link
So, so true.
― B.L.A.M. (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Friday, 26 January 2007 17:58 (seventeen years ago) link
Not a line crossing thing for most people I know, more just a matter of thinking that anyone who would make a generality about an entire region's people (aka "they're all likeable", "they're all laid-back", etc) doesn't really know much about that place or those people.
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 26 January 2007 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― jennyjennyjenny (pullapartgirl), Friday, 26 January 2007 18:07 (seventeen years ago) link
Headed to Dollywood tomorrow!
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Thursday, 31 July 2014 04:54 (nine years ago) link
Ooh! I've never made it there, but I hear it's fun.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 31 July 2014 05:39 (nine years ago) link
It's weirder than one would think, and probably far more gay than most of its punters realize.
Bitchin roller coasters, too
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Thursday, 31 July 2014 05:52 (nine years ago) link