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I was raised on fish and grits and not just for breakfast. I remember eating salmon patties and cheese toast. We had biscuits for dinner to sop up our gravy. Butter beans and collard greens if momma really felt like cooking. On those days she was lazy, maybe it was fried chicken and mash potatoes, and yes more gravy. A special occasion meant more food, aww what is a sister to do. Red beans and rice and conecuh sausage too, gumbo while we listened to Marvin Sease the candy licker himself sing the blues. We don’t make fudge we make candy, that’s what Ma’dear used to do, so hard and so damn sweet. And when the spring came don’t forget about picking the blackberries. I like the ones that are still red because they aren’t that sweet. And get that right time of the year and we have pecans falling off the trees. But don’t ask me to go somewhere and pick them ‘cause I’m too lazy. Holidays are just another reason to party. Don’t forget the bud light and the bacardi. I’m talking fried and baked turkeys with Cajun injections. We don’t do that bourgeois stuffing, we eat seafood dressing. Macaroni and cheese and potato salad, too many tastes for the palate to fathom. And if somebody’s in the mood to clean them things, black folks love some chitterlings (not me though- I be pork free). And there’s gotta be rice and corn bread because that goes with just about everything. And of course there will be more greens, maybe some turnips with dumplings. And if New Year’s a big ole pot of black eyes peas with a penny at the bottom of the pot for the luck it brings. And then desert, coconut layer cake, German chocolate cake, and momma’s homemade pound and red velvet cakes. Sweet potato pies and maybe lemon meringue too, what is a sister to do?

I was raised on country cooking and southern style love… these are some of the things my family traditions are made of.





Robyn V. Evans

© 2002