

3
“I
f people know nothing else about how Southerners supposedly eat, they know
that bacon, barbecue, lard and ham are considered essential ingredients in the
South’s culinary repertoire. Some even know a smattering of the history —Spanish
and other European colonists bring hairy, spiky pigs — they get loose — they spread
— and with their robust strength, tusks, teeth and boar-like behavior thrust and parry
their way through a wilderness of cougars, bears and wolves. Even with predators
aplenty — through brute strength and human intervention the pigs came out on top —
leaving the South thick with a feral hog population to this day. Proto-Southern cuisine
amplified Old World pork eating habits until the pig was in everything — from start
to finish. Even today, from chopped bacon in salad to piecrust made with lard, it
somehow makes an appearance. It comes with red-eye gravy in the morning and
perhaps even with ice cream in the evening.”
—Michael Twitty, Culinary Historian