Robert St. John, executive chef and
owner of the Purple Parrot Cafe, Crescent City Grill and Mahogany Bar of Hattiesburg, MS wrote this. |
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My South
Thirty years ago I visited my first cousin in Virginia. While
hanging
out with his friend, the discussion turned to popular movies of the day.
When I offered my two-cents on the authenticity and social
relevance of the movie Billy Jack, one of the boys asked, in all
seriousness, .. "Do you guys have movie theaters down there?"
To which I replied, "Yep, ... and we wear shoes too."
Just three years ago,
my wife and I were attending a food and
wine seminar in Aspen, Colo. We were seated with two couples from
Las Vegas. One of the Glitter Gulch gals was amused, and downright
rude, when I described our restaurant as a fine-dining restaurant.
"Mississippi doesn't have fine-dining restaurants!" she demanded,
and nudged her companion. I fought back the strong desire to mention
that she lived in the land that invented the 99-cent breakfast buffet.
I wanted so badly to defend my state, and my restaurant, with a 15-minute
soliloquy and public relations rant that would surely change her mind.
It was at that precise moment, that I was hit with a blinding
jolt
of enlightenment, and in a moment of complete and absolute clarity
it dawned on me, ..my South is the best-kept secret in the
country. Why would I try to win this woman over? She might move
down here.
I am always amused by Hollywood's interpretation of the South.
We
are still, on occasion, depicted as a collective group of sweaty,
stupid, backwards-minded and racist rednecks. The south of movies
and TV, the Hollywood south, is not my south.
This Is My South:
My south is full of honest, hardworking people. My south is
the
birthplace of blues and jazz, and rock n' roll. It has banjo pickers and
fiddle players, but it also has B.B. King, Muddy Waters, the
Allman Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Elvis.
My South is hot. My South smells of newly mowed grass. My
South
was creek swimming, cane-pole fishing and bird hunting.
In my South, ... football is king.
My South is home to the most beautiful women on the planet.
In my South, soul food and country cooking are the same thing.
My
South is full of fig preserves, cornbread, butter beans, fried chicken,
grits and catfish. In my South we don't eat fois gras, caviar
and truffles. In my South, grandmothers cook a big lunch every Sunday.
In my South, family matters deeply.
My South is boiled shrimp, blackberry cobbler, homemade peach
ice
cream, banana pudding and coconut cream pies.
In my South people put peanuts in bottles of Coke, and hot
sauce
on almost everything. In my South the tea is iced, and almost as sweet as
the women.
My South has air-conditioning. My South is camellias, azaleas,
wisteria and hydrangeas.
In my South, the only person that has to sit on the back of
the
bus is the last person that got on the bus.
In my South, people still say, "yes, ma'am," "no
ma'am," "please"
and "thank you."
In my South, we all wear shoes.... most of the time.
My South is the best-kept secret in the country.
Please continue to keep the secret, ...It keeps the idiots away
sent to me by
my daughter-in-law
currently living in Columbus, Mississippi
Rhonda
