I’m More Southern Than I Thought

When it comes to food, back home comfort food, my southern roots shine through. Before I was a vegetarian I loved chicken fried steak and chicken livers. I never cared for fried okra but we always had plenty in the garden and it was used in many dishes. Greens was not something I had much of as a kid but beans of all types were a staple. Southern cooking is great for those trying to save money like those of us paying for graduate school at St. Louis University. Southern, creole and soul food are all intertwined. And the seasoning of choice on many southern tables? Hot peppers in vinegar.

This is not the hot sauce you are all probably used to. No, this is vinegar that takes on the flavor of the hot peppers. Beans just aren’t the same without it and a couple of dashes on some collard greens is a nice touch. I had a bottle for a long time (most people just continued to add more white vinegar) but I threw it out back when we had the power outage and I cleaned out my fridge. With New Year’s coming up I could not bring myself to have black-eyed peas without pepper vinegar. Back in Oklahoma, not exactly the center of the south, I could find this condiment in any grocery store. In the true south you’ll find this on the table next to the salt & pepper. But my efforts to find it here in St. Louis were unsuccessful. I resorted to ordering online with the shipping costing more than the actual item. To justify the shipping, I ordered a couple of bottles of both the hot pepper version and the hotter tabasco pepper version.

Since I am on the subject of southern food, whenever I get a craving for some good cooking I head over to Eternity Deli on Euclid between Forest Park and Laclede. The menu changes but trust me this is some of the best food in town, especially if you are from the south. Nothing better than vegetarian soul food.

In trying to find this 6oz bottle of hot vinegar I learned quite a bit. Turns out the term “soul food” dates only to the 1960s. From wiki:

Poor whites and blacks in the South ate many of the same dishes, but styles of preparation sometimes varied. African American soul food generally tends to be spicier than Anglo-American cuisine. The recipes and cooking techniques tended to be handed down orally

While I occasionally enjoy a fancy meal now and then I have a strong liking for the basics of my southern upbringing. My father’s side of the family was largely Southern Baptist while my mom’s side was Mennonite. Although meals at each had some distinct differences, it was largely southern (with roots in southern black cooking) and depression/dust bowl survival practices. It is funny that so many my parents childhood food was influenced by blacks — my mom said she was in high school before she ever saw a black person — and that was only because she went on a field trip out of the rural mostly Mennonite town where she was raised (the 2000 census shows 591 residents with only 0.34% being African American).

So what is the point of this on an St. Louis-focused urban blog? First, I just dropped $15 on an order of vinegar so I want to get some mileage out of it. Second, to me it demonstrates that so many of us come from very diverse backgrounds yet our histories are so connected — very important to remember in an urban context. The food I love has as much to do with the slaves from Africa as my Mennonite (and Amish & Quaker) relatives from 19th Century Prussia (and Netherlands before that). We need to look for that which can bring us together. Sometimes it is our unique cultures but others it is the overlap and blending of our cultures. Meanwhile, in 7-10 days I am looking forward to a well seasoned mess of beans, rice, cornbread and greens!