Southern Road Food

[wcmckinney]

I recently picked up the pamphlet my buddy DG Martin has written on good eats on the highways of North Carolina. The book is typically exhaustive and stops at a number of the culinary capitals of NC (which conveniently and perhaps inevitabley located near highways and places of commerce).

The book is published by North State magazine and perhaps my only fault with the books is that it describes the people to the exclusion of the food sometimes. Then again, if that is where the truly interesting story is why write about something else?

Regardless, I was wondering what you all thought about the ideas of 1. eating a big ole meal while driving a long ole distance, 2. highways as such a symbol of modernity juxtaposed such an agrarian concept as southern cooking can be, 3. how often y'all eat slow while driving.

[Holly Moore]

Welcome William. This is going to be my kind of forum. As Justin Wilson used to say, "Guaranteeeeed."

1. eating a big ole meal while driving a long ole distance

Just one? A big meal makes me sleepy. So a few hours later I pull into an interesting restaurant's parking lot; grab a quick nap. When I wake up I head inside to see what's cooking.

2. highways as such a symbol of modernity juxtaposed such an agrarian concept as southern cooking can be

Highways meaning interstates with the same restaurants at each and every exit, a real downer. Highways meaning state and county roads with a small town every few miles and the rural south in between, perfection and at one with southern cooking.

3. how often y'all eat slow while driving.

Pretty much every breakfast and dinner. Usually try to hit a couple of joints come lunch time, so, though "slow" in content less time taken to pause and savor.

Any possibility of a link to the source for DG Martin's pamphlet?

[wcmckinney]

Yes, I should have provided that from the get go:

http://www.ourstate.com/store/trans/produc...1&tow=-1&toh=-1

I guess my point with the highway/southern cooking comment, was that all of these restaurants ARE on interstates, which sort of makes them anachronistic from the get go. I guess in the end that is the whole sui generis of this booklet.

[Carrot Top]

This is a double-edged sword in the South, as far as one transplanted Northerner here can see.

I got kinda cranky upon reading an earlier post (don't remember the forum) where the discussion was of a road trip to be taken...the writer said that West Virginia was absolutely the worst state she had had to drive through in terms of 'where to eat'.

But of course she was looking for places to eat that were close to the interstate.

It seems to me that the more agrarian and rural the particular area...the more it is that the people that live there really don't give a damn what any 'outsiders' think of them...and there is absolutely nothing done to try to tempt anyone into the area that might just be passing through.

Again, another outcropping of the way southerners tend to keep it all at home, don't make a fuss, and take care of things themselves.

It does take some work...to find the special off road places to eat...at least in my experience here.

Bad for local economy...but then again, who cares? Locals don't want people to come in and see the potential of the place, for then they'll move right in and demand more public services and higher taxes.

Personally, I like it this way. It makes for more of an adventure...a treasure chest to be unearthed...then perhaps quietly buried again till the next visit.

Quiet-like, you know.

Edited October 5, 2004 by Carrot Top (log)

[Holly Moore]

I guess my point with the highway/southern cooking comment, was that all of these restaurants ARE on interstates, which sort of makes them anachronistic from the get go.  I guess in the end that is the whole sui generis of this booklet.

←

First of all, I had to look up sui generis. "Sui" I recognized as a common hollar used to summon hogs for dinner. It's the "generis" I couldn't figure out.

Any guide to decent eating along the Interstate System is a godsend. And perhaps wayfarers after driving a few miles from the exit to find some good cookin' will become lost on the way back to I-85 and be forced to spend some time driving the true rural South.

[fifi]

I am wishing that there was a book like that for every state. I have this fantasy road trip in mind. I am in Houston and my daughter is in DC. I get in my car and head for DC, avoiding the Interstates wherever possible, and just make my way along routes that tickle my fancy. This is not a road trip, it is a mosey. I don't have to be anywhere by any particular time. The trip east would probably skirt the gulf coast through Florida and wind its way up the east coast. The return would take a more northerly route. I think I could cover a lot of southern food on that one. But I do get impatient from time to time so I would likely duck onto an Interstate. What a valuble resource those books would be.

[andiesenji]

It was written in 1987 but Leroy Woodson's Roadside Food, Good Homestyle Cooking Across America is still a helpful book. Some of the places are no longer there, but you can get an update by cross referencing with the Auto Club's travel books.

Several years ago Sunset produced a book which listed by freeway, all the services available at each off ramp of every feeway in the western states. It was very helpful to me as I was still going to a lot of dog shows, however it apparently did not sell well and it was not updated, as far as I know.

Reading through it I discovered several places which were just far enough off the freeway so they couldn't be seen but were great places to stop for a meal.