Sunday, June 20, 2010

More on food

I first wrote about food comparison between England and North Carolina last August (Food, Glorious(?), Food), but feel I must share my love of food once more.

What has prompted me? Stuart and Leslie buy me a wonderful birthday gift each year - a annual subscription to the excellent Our State magazine. A feature in this month's edition is entitled 100 Foods You Must Eat in North Carolina's 100 Counties.

But first some geographical comparisons:


































EnglandNorth Carolina
Area50,346 square miles53,865 square miles
Population51.45 million9.38 million
Density1,023 per square mile165 per square mile
Counties48100


Getting back to the food. The delights of the Old North State include such wonders as Appalachian Chicken, from the delightfully named Vance Toe River Lodge Restaurant, in the even more delightfully named Alleghany County; Nutty Blue Chick (Avery County); and wait for it - Chocolate-Stuffed Sourdough French Toast with Pecans and Maple Syrup (Anson County) and that's just some from the six counties beginning with A!

How about Lightly Salted Southern Blister-Fried Peanuts from Bakers Southern Traditions Peanuts, Roxobel in Bertie County; Conch Fritters and Honor-system Beer, provided at the Yacht Basin Provision Co., Southport in Brunswick County; or Moon Pie Ice Cream from the Cabarrus Creamery, Concord in Cabarrus County (if you haven;t had Moon Pie, you haven't lived)!

I could go on (and on), for example Aunt Ruby's Raw Shelled Peanuts, Twice-baked Grits Souffle with Wild-and-Exotic-Mushroom Ragout, Aged Sherry-Mushroom Emulsion and Shaved Confit Foie Gras, Muscadine Grape Hull Pie, Zucchini Marmalade, Corned Herring, Vinegar Pie, Foot-Long Pork Barrel Sausage on a Lobby Bun, Crispy Cornbread Crab Cakes, etc., etc. But this is making feel quite peckish and I've only just had breakfast!

I did notice that many of the 100 "Don't Miss" treats are desserts. To a Southerner a "pie" is usually a dessert, invariably loaded with sugar. That's why this English ex-pat misses "pork" pies, "steak and kidney" pies, etc. Have I mentioned this before?

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