The Texas Preacher and His Eatin'

Howdy ya'll,

Like usual, I ain't been here much. Seems time jest flies by faster n' faster and I git busier and busier instead of gittin' slowed down like old folks is s'possed to!

Well, I got somethin' new to discuss with ya. I met a preacher feller back in early January that seems to be catchin' quite a bit of flack fer his eatin' habits, er maybe I should say the not eatin' of certain things. He's from Texas and I reckon they eat differnt than we do.

He says things like pulled pork is good, it jest ain't bar-be-que. Bein'a Texan and all, he figers there ain't no bar-be-que but beef. I ain't gonna give'im no flack fer it, but I do disagree with'im.


He also says that grits ain't worth eatin'. Now bein' from Georgia, them's jest about fightin' words! I wonder if'n he eats oatmeal? Only way I'll eat that no-taste-slimey-ground up cardboard is if'n it mixed with flouer, spices, sugar and baked into a cookie!


I know that chili is made all differnt kinds of ways, even some kind thats white and made with chicken. (Now that don't even sound good!) Seems he was havin' a discussion about chili the other day on his facebook page. He says chili ain't s'possed to have beans in it, jest meat, 'maters and seasonin'. Well, that might be fine fer goin' on a hot dog, but not fer real eatin'! Besides, at todays prices fer meat, and the way my bunch can eat, who could afford to make it with no beans? Now I ain't sayin' that chili is got to be more beans than anything else, but gimmee a break - most of us have to use the beans jest to make it stretch fer enough! B'sides, the beans is good fer ya cholestrol, you know, yer veins and heart. And, before he reads this and says I don't know chili, I need to let'im know that I used to live in Texas! I DO know a thing er two about it, probly more than most southerners. Like the simple bit that chili meat ain't s'possed to be hamburger meat, it's s'possed to be real small cut up chunks of beef, not some ground up stuff. Kind of like carne asdada (bet'cha didn't think I knew such a word, huh?!)

He said somethin' about not eatin' his chili with soda crackers er crumblin' up corn bread in it either. To each his own I reckon. He don't think corn bread aught to be crumbled up in nothin'. What?! Not even in pot liker from greens? Not in pea juice? Not in milk? Again, to each his own. Now if'n I find out he's one of them that expect sugar in his corn bread, I may jest have to....well, I'll have to figer out somethin'.

I also found out he don't like boiled peanuts! From the way he described'em, I figer he got ahold to some that weren't made right. Either they was over cooked, over salted, er jest old. Good boiled peanuts should have firm shells, tender peanuts, and jest the right amount of salt. Maybe one day he'll get gutsy enough to try some good'uns.

My point in this writin' is to let people know that no matter where yer from, people from other places is gonna eat differnt. I been lucky and I've lived in a bunch of differnt places in my life, and I can testify to it! When I lived in Ohio and in Colorado, I purdy much figered I'd starve to death b'fore I could get back home! There weren't no grits, no smoked sausage, no country ham, no boiled peanuts, no field peas, no butter beans, no decent corn meal, oh, the list jest goes on and on!

Now I also have to tell ya I learned to eat a lot of things I'd never heard of before, like a lot of them mexican dishes. I payed close attention and learned how to make'em. Fer a old southern gal, let me tell ya, I can make a mean bunch of pork enchilladas! One of my favorites is the chili relano and a little resterant in New Mexico interduced me to a green chili cheeseburger that is some kind of good! Gotta be versa-tile I say! Learn differnt things, eat differnt things, live on the edge I think they call it. Keeps life interestin'!

I've eat all kinds of stuff in my life time, from baby octopus to possum, from gator to buffalo, from coon to tomales, from chinese lo mane to squirrel purloe. Now there's a few things I won't eat again cause I didn't like'em the first time, but there's a bunch I would. I may like a change ever now'n then, but I always come back to my roots - jest a regler ol'southern breakfast with grits'n eggs, country ham, good bacon er smoked sausage and homemade buttermilk biscuits with cane syrup. Fer dinner I like stuff like fried chicken er pork chops, field peas, butterbeans, mashed taters er rice and gravy and greens, with NO SUGAR cornbread. Supper can often be warmed up leftovers from dinner, er even somethin' simple like hoe cake and mater gravy. The point here is whilst it may seem strange as to what other people eat er don't eat, ya gotta figer the way you eat is strange to them, too. And when ya run up on somethin' differnt, give it a try. Ya might jest find ya like it! Life is too short to pass oppertunity by and miss out on things jest cause yer too stubborn an set in yer ways.

I think I'm gonna be makin' breakfast fer supper tonight - homemade buttermilk pancakes and smoke sausage. ya'll have a good day!

'Till next time,

Gran'ma Gertie