Quote:
Originally Posted by Froide
I haven't (yet) looked through that book but am aware that the USA's deep South is the source of many recipes, typically labelled "soul food", that fit this category. An important historical reason for that is: slaves (especially field slaves) were given the discarded portions of foodstuffs that the ruling classes (slave masters, etc.) didn't want to eat and had to find ways to supplement those rations and make the food palatable. Eventually, as with many other American "folkways" originating with oppressed and/or minority groups, "slave food" cuisine was adopted by the majority population, renamed "soul food", and became trendy. ( https://www.bing.com/search?q=slaves...ZI&form=MOZLBR) |
There were a lot of poor whites, too, in the Deep South. And they ate whatever they could get. I'm sure that pork brains was one of those things, at times.
I have no idea how pork brains became a delicacy to some Southerners (I assume that my grandmother wasn't the only one who ate them. In fact, at one time, at least, grocery stores where she lived would sell canned pork brains. That's within my lifetime), though. If it wasn't because of what I mentioned in the first paragraph, then perhaps it came from the slaves. I dunno. Perhaps both are true.
Poke Salat (often erroneously called and written "Polk Salad") is a leafy plant that grows wild in the Deep South. Poor people who could not afford collard greens, mustard greens, or turnip greens would go outside to forage for it when they wanted greens and, I'm sure, when there was nothing else to eat, too. Nowadays, some native Southerners will go out and "pick a mess of it" even if they afford other greens. It's a delicacy to them.
By the way, there is a song called "Poke Salat Annie," about Southerners eating Poke Salat. Elvis Presley was one who used to sing it. When he was in a live concert and about to sing it, he would explain to some audiences what Poke Salat was. He would have been very familiar with it, having grown up very poor in northeastern Mississippi (Tupelo) in the 1930's and 40's.