-L. wrote:

> Good Southern food doesn't have to be greasy or overcooked. My MIL
> makes some awesome traditional Black Southern dishes.

Edna Lewis. Nothing more need be said. She made some incredible food.

I liken much of the "southern home cooking" style to poverty cooking
that the southern ancestors dealt to. Put the veggies on to cook while
working the fields, or tending a passel of kids. Way too much starch and
farm fresh veggies prepared so they don't look any different from ones
poured out of a can. Rare spice use, way too much sugar and salt, and a
lot of frying or fat included as nothing was wasted on that hog.
My "southern" ancestors were from Southern Italy.. our "peasant" foods
seemed to taste better to me.