Hey y’all! I am Southern Food Boy. I wanted to create this blog to have somewhere to share my thoughts and ciphering about one of the greatest cuisines in the world. Some info about me: I’m from South Carolina, I live in Charleston, and I had a Southern grandmother that made the best biscuits you could ever taste. Looking back, I guess my love of Southern food came early on from her. She’s gone now, and it’s only after growing up and traveling the world that I’ve developed the perspective and the appreciation for what she did.
I drink sweet tea out of a Mason jar, I’m picky about the consistency of pimiento cheese and a fierce advocate for using Duke’s mayonnaise in it, and I’m perfectly comfortable with the concept of using bacon as a “seasoning”. I like Mountain Dew and boiled peanuts, and I’m happy to know that you can get boiled peanuts at McCrady’s in Charleston, which is not a roadside shack but one of the top fine dining restaurants in town. I like the Gamecocks, I went to school there. Catfish is one of my favorite things in the world. I cook like a big dog. I have some cred as a Southerner.
I got to see John Edge from Southern Foodways Alliance talk at the Charleston Wine and Food Festival a few years ago. To paraphrase what he said, Southern Food is not necessarily about recipes, it’s about the stories, the people, the events, and the times that families and friends spend together creating them. That’s what I’d like to celebrate here.
I’m fortunate to be able to travel the world (quite extensively) with my job, so I’ll be posting about that too. I always try to make time to seek out the best food wherever I go. Studying and sampling food is probably one of the most profound ways to gain perspective about another culture, and about your own. I always bring back some new ideas and influences to spice up my own cooking.
I just got back from a seven-week trip throughout South and Central America and Mexico. I was dreaming about what I was going to cook when I got back, because the food on that trip was truthfully kind of hit-and-miss. You have to be very careful about what you eat and drink down there. I did get to sample some amazing ceviche, and the beef and Malbec in Argentina were both out of this world. When I came back I picked up a copy of Donald Link’s book Real Cajun, and the first thing I cooked was some seafood gumbo. I’m pretty excited about the book and that gumbo!
I’ve got some organizing to do, but I’m ready to contribute. Keep checking back for more.
Y’all take care.
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