THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994 TAG: 9406010467
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
DATELINE: 940601 LENGTH: Medium
Well, of course, we all knew that, but it gives interesting detail.
{REST} Two-thirds of Southerners, but only 42 percent of non-Southerners, like black-eyed peas. A third of the latter haven't tried them, while only 6 percent below the Mason-Dixon line have not.
There's no special virtue in liking black-eyed peas or any other dish. I'm not one who considers a taste for red-eye gravy a test of one's patriotism or manhood. So he or she doesn't care for it; that just leaves more for me. No point in getting boastful and red-eyed about it.
The Southern Focus Poll at the University of North Carolina shows more Southerners than non-Southerner prefer their chicken fried - 33 percent vs. 26 percent.
That may depend on whether the chicken was fried at a drive-in or at home. In my family, there is a version with a half-inch-thick crust that nobody can replicate, alas, even with the recipe now that the cook's gone. Oh, Lord!
Even people who disliked fried chicken liked that crusty kind.
``Southerners' folkways change more slowly than many other things about us,'' says Dr. John Shelton Reed, director of the Institute for Research in Social Science.
Most people in and out of the region dislike buttermilk. How depressing! The fewer who like it, the less chance of finding it. There's little solace that 33 percent of Southerners and 25 percent of non-Southerners like it. Babies ought to be put on buttermilk as soon as possible.
Corn bread is safe, favored by 92 percent of Southerners and 83 percent of non-Southerners. Fewer than 1 percent of those down South haven't tried it, compared with 4 percent of those elsewhere.
Region was not a good predictor of whether respondents choose a barbecue sandwich over a hamburger. Southerners were split in preferences; non-Southerners gave burgers a slight edge, 47 percent vs. 42 percent.
That's not surprising when you consider the marked contrasts in barbecue, not only among the Southern states, but even among the barbecue shacks within the state, or even in the same locality.
There are North Carolinians who wouldn't stoop to taste barbecue in Virginia. There are Virginians who look askance on anyone liking the dry, vinegary variety prevalent in North Carolina.
Petersburg is a notable barbecue center in Virginia, and there is a brand in Greensboro that, while totally different, is every bit as flavorful. There are Texans who would scoff at either.
Four of five across the nation enjoy Mexican food. Three-quarters of Southerners like Chinese food, while 85 percent of others do. Only 12 percent of Southerners and 17 percent of non-Southerners claim to like sushi. About half of both groups have not tried it, a pity. We oughtn't to shrink from expanding our appetites.
There's no report of how people stand on collards. Did they all run? by CNB