Having just moved to the South, I am occasionally reminded of my Southern relatives and the foods that I encountered in their homes. Before I go on, please realize that my relatives were not from the Deep South—although based on their accents, you might think they were more Southern that they were. They lived around Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the parts of Virginia where they still talk about the War of Northern Aggression. It always amazed me that those same relatives, although only three hours south of my father's hometown in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, believed that my mother had married a Yankee. It's that damn Mason Dixon line that although close to both sets of relatives, once divided that part of the nation.
But back to the food, my aunt in Virginia made a certain type of green beans, a flat green bean often stewed with ham and potatoes, that remind me my childhood weekends in the south. I recently randomly reencountered this green bean in Tallahassee, FL.
1 comment:
As you protect your relatives from a"too" Southern identity (their accent would identity them as more southern than they are) and then perhaps yourself, I'm reminded again after being back in the Deep South - my place of origin - for more than three years of how disparaging the stereotypes are! Living in the West (for 6 years) and as an expatriate (only for a year) in Germany, I distinctly enjoyed subverting the stereotypes when I proclaimed my southerness without apology. Abroad,this also applied to being an American during the Bush/Gore election.
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