Mthafckers wanna get with me, lay with me, love with me, all night.

[raybear]

In chemistry classes and various lab jobs, much of the glassware was made by Pyrex. Often these Pyrex beakers would be held over bunsen burners i.e. direct flames for various experimental purposes (including the entertainment of bored nerdy students). However, the scientific glassware of Pyrex is obviously not the same glassware sold for household use. I learned this lesson once, though obviously I didn't really learn it because I re-learned it last night while on the phone with BucknerFan.

I decided to put the container of leftover blackeyed peas on the burner to reheat while I made some organic boxed macaroni and cheese (eatin' good in the neighborhood, indeed), and I assumed if I kept the heat on simmer, all would be good. First, I managed to burn some of the peas, because there wasn't enough water in the pot. But once I got that problem taken care of, I put the lid on and turned off the flame, assuming they would stay warm for the next five minutes. I was chatting it up with BucknerFan about her recent resignation and possibly moving to Kansas when suddenly a loud BANG!CRACK! noise caused me to duck and crouch down by the fridge. My instinct obviously overrode logic, since there are no windows in my kitchen that could possibly allow for random crossfire, unless it was the magic bullet that killed Kennedy.

Instead of any ballistics evidence, I turned to find a large pile of black-eyedpeas and broken glass artfully arranged on my stove. I hung up the phone. Then, in a potentially stupid move, I decided to just fix my plate and eat dinner before attempting to clean anything up. I scooped some peas off the top, hoping I wouldn't kill myself by accidentally consuming a mouthful of glass shards. I think I did okay on that front.

As someone who's cooked a lot and for a long time, I've had plenty of kitchen mishaps, including numerous potholders and dishtowels catching on fire, cakes sliding onto the floor, pots of chili being dropped, bags of flour dumping over, and other fun escapades, but for some reason, this is on the top of my list of "worst". It was a brand new glass pot! It made a scary sound! The burner wasn't even on when it happened! Cleaning up mushy burned peas out of the crevices of a stovetop was gross! And of course, the ultimate in what makes a kitchen accident a disaster -- the loss of edible food.

Comments

[raybear.livejournal.com]

I must confess I have no idea the explicit origin of new year's black-eyed peas for good-luck, though the idea is certainly burned into my head from childhood! Black-eyed peas for good luck, collard greens for good fortune (i.e. money) and somehow ham hocks fit in somewhere as well -- possibly those are just for good seasoning.

Except if I remember my Georgia history right (which is not a given), peas weren't really eaten prior to the Civil War -- they were used primarily for feeding cows. But when the Union came down and burned up the towns, they often burned the crops except for the cattle feed so to survive they started eating the peas. Don't take this story as fact -- it might also just be a random anecdote from some random family member with no basis in truth!

Funny thing about southern traditions -- I come up to places like Chicago and they are deemed "black traditions", which is mostly because the people here in Chicago who were originally from the south are also black (at the turn of the century there was a large migration up to the south side of the city from folks in the south looking for job in the factories and mills and slaughterhouses), but in places like Atlanta where I grew up or in southern Mississippi where my parents are from, there's a lot more traditions in common. I go to "soul food" restaurants to find the food my racist great-aunts and great-grandmothers made -- which is not to say they're recipes and traditions didn't possibly come from african-american experiences, but the lines of origin are sometimes blurred.

Now I want to research the cultural history of southern food. And I want dinner!

I am a child of two worlds..grounded in the sky

[dnb03.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Which is why I said southern. I've never thought of soul food as being "black" in the sense that I have always thought of it as southern, and much to my chagrin it’s always associated with black people. Like we were the only ones sitting around eating grits and ham and biscuits and gravy and okra (which I hate, much too slimy for me, but that is beside the point). I won’t even start on the chicken and watermelon stereotype. I really can't think of any food that I have eaten down south that can be isolated to one set of racial inhabitants. The only exception being things that are expensive or delicacies in some manner, but really that’s class and socioeconomic background more than anything else. I know lots of people, black and white, who have never had caviar or foie gras or whatever other questionable things that rich people eat (we won’t go into the questionable things that poor people eat, and middle class people with poor origins, like chitterlings).

I really think that it makes the most sense that black and white people in the south would eat the same things being that they lived in such close geographical proximity of each other (well with each other, who are we kidding, right?). They certainly weren’t importing entirely different food. I would think that the recipes are joint recipes, as is much of the history, good and bad. Okra, I think I remember vaguely being imported from Africa, where it seemed to take root in the south and virtually nowhere else, but at the same time who was instructing the cooks as to how it should be prepared?

In any case I am glad that I finally have some confirmation that black and white southerners eat the same thing. Because if “soul food” is “black food”, then it just begs the question, what the hell were the white folks eating? It’s much easier for me to make my sociological comparisons and studies (as unscientific as they might be) here in New York because I have always gone to school with white children, and then white teenagers and white adults. I have a sense of the differences and similarities between the different cultures. But the towns where I grew up in Alabama were, and still are, very segregated. I really didn't have the luxury of comparing. I also lived in Atlanta for a year as a child, and though I saw more white people, interracial couples and noticed racial boundaries weren't exactly as severe where I was, I wasn't exactly pondering what anybody was having for dinner.

Re: I am a child of two worlds..grounded in the sky

[raybear.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes, on all of your points!

Where in Alabama did you grow up? My parents' family grew up mostly in Hattiesburg, MS, but we have family sort of all over the gulf area -- like Pensacola, Mobile. I also have fond memories of vacationing in Gulf Shores. My sister-in-law is from Silicoga (sp?) which is near Birmingham.

Re: I am a child of two worlds..grounded in the sky

[dnb03.livejournal.com]

Let's see. All of my summers up until I was a teenager were spent in Orrville. A little town about 15 miles oustide of Selma. 1 General Store, one gas station, one state store (licqour), I'm not really sure about a Post Office (but possibly),and that's pretty much it. The rest of the time I was in Bessemer, about 15 minutes outside of Birmingham. Then I also have a lot of family in Mobile, where I have never really spent a lot of time. Everywhere was pretty much segregated unless we were at the mall or some of the bigger stores. Luckily most of my education was in New York, so I did get used to being around different cultures. I love to visit my familiy but it's just too narrow for me to live there.

Re: I am a child of two worlds..grounded in the sky

[raybear.livejournal.com]

I love to visit my familiy but it's just too narrow for me to live there.


Agreed. The South is the epitome of "a great place to visit but wouldn't want to live there". Of course I would never commiserate on this fact with someone who hasn't spend significant time there! Non-southerners: they think they know, but they have no idea.

I'm happy I spent most of my formative years in Atlanta, a metropolitan city with lots of natives and transplants, so I too could get used to being around lots of different cultures and people. But I've certainly spent lots of time at those one stop-sign towns.