Southern Cuisine: A Turn for the Worse? Or Just a Misconception...

One stereotype of Southern cuisine is that every staple of food is battered, fried, or covered in grease.  Let's face it...walk down the straw-laden pathways at a local fair and sure enough, buckets of fried oreos, sticks of corn-dogs, and baskets of fritters (whatever those are).  But then again, we're talking about a fair here; not just your ordinary Sunday brunch, but a down-south, cowboy-boot, bon-a-fied fair.  Food at this sort of venue is guaranteed to be unhealthy regardless of local.  It is, therefore, in this sense that Southern cuisine is given a bad rep.

While traditionally Southern foods are known to be high in all sorts of cholesterol and fats, modern Southern belles and beaus enjoy healthy eating with diets high in fresh fruits and vegetables.  However, there are always loopholes to any statement, and one of these loopholes comes in the form of a grandmotherly Paula Deen, the queen of butter.  Grandma Paula, for example, prides herself in creating "traditional" Southern dishes such as the "Gooey Butter Cake" or a "Grits Pie", each of these dishes including the name-sake ingredients: butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and buttermilk.

So, aside from the crazy-eyed Paula Deen, who continues to promote the Southern stereotype of butter, butter, and more butter (oh, did I mention butter?), Southerners, like any other region, are perfectly apt at creating wholesome, healthy meals or snacks.  While it may seems as if the local fare in a Southern town is the "daily fritter" or "soup du beurre" (aka - soup of butter), in actuality, local gardens, farms, and crops provide natural and organic fruits, vegetables and grains to keep our Southerners healthy!