Food thoughts: barbecue, chili, hot dogs: The three major food groups of the south

That title is an exaggeration of course. It leaves out grits, fried okra, fried pies, fried everything else*, a mess of greens (the main vegetable, with pepper vinegar if you like), and the vast network of sides, led by hush puppies and Brunswick stew. (Or, in the Mississippi Delta, tamales.) But shorthand is always somewhat necessary.

*except fried ice cream, which it took Mexico (the deeper south) to come up with.

Yesterday, Sarah said to me she could hardly wait for our vacation.

"Can we eat barbecue?"

"You bet."

"Can we eat hot dogs?"

"Sure. The south has lots of hot dog joints."

So I've been accumulating lists of hot dog and barbecue etc. joints where we're going. It got me to thinking:

The three main food groups of great cuisine are, of course, barbecue, chili, and hot dogs. You may disagree (though you would be wrong unless you argue for chocolate), but this is my blog, and I need to give the Lipitor a reason for working on my cholesterol count. Heck, if I'm paying for the Lipitor, give it something to do, right?

But then I got to thinking as I noticed my earlier postings about barbecue (still quite limited but you can also go to our barbecue pages here) and chili (especially the great Fred & Red's in Joplin), I realized that when talking about Fred & Red's and similar places, even our (commercialized) local chain Hard Times Cafe, one normally refers to a "chili parlor." No one has ever heard of a hamburger parlor, a hot dog parlor, or (may the barbecue angels forgive me) a barbecue parlor. They're joints, stands, counters, but nothing so elegant and Victorian sounding as a parlor. Why "chili parlor?" Was it originally ironic, like "gambling parlor" and "poker parlor," both of which do exist, or did they serve the chili with butlers and doilies (go ahead and try to picture it: I can't).

On that note, cheers. And just to give you something to think about, I've just learned about the West Virginia Hot Dog, since it doesn't seem to extend into West Virginia's eastern panhandle, the part of the state I know best, and it does indeed sound a lot like a Carolina slaw dog which seems to have cognates throughout the lower south from the Appalachians around Asheville to the South Carolina coast.

Sorry to any of you tofu eaters out there if this post makes your head explode. Don't eat this stuff all the time. But c'mon, we're going to be in North Carolina. I dare you not to eat a hush puppy..

.Also, I think it's time to add a "comfort foods' category here, since I seem to be writing about so many.

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