General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLet me tell you about MY Southern Heritage:
I am a life long southerner and a 4th generation Texan.
My grandparents and their grandparents are from here and so on. We come from a very tight knit family. My Mothers side is Swedish and my Fathers side Scottish.
My Mothers parents and grandparents were part of a huge settlement of Swedes. To this day my family is still very much involved in preserving the Swedish culture and taking care of one of the largest Swedish cemeteries in Central Texas. I personally visit this spot annually and help with "Swedish PRIDE" day and help clean up the cemetery. We clean the grounds and repair any damages of the markers, we also clean up trash and spend a day appreciating our background. Every Christmas we celebrate our heritage by cooking many Swedish dishes and brushing up on our language.
Being a native Austinite has some pride. I love my city, even though it's growing like crazy and becoming difficult for alot of folks to live here. No matter, Austin, TX is my home and I could never imagine being anywhere else. When you tell someone you are "native" they seem amazed!
I went to college in Texas and earned a nursing degree. I work in my community caring for others. My nursing has been a wonderful career. I've enjoyed just about every minute of giving back to my community. As a matter of fact when Katrina hit I volunteered countless hours caring for the infirmed in a make shift facility as a volunteer. I still have contact with some of those patients to this very day! I am proud to have been part of their care and will never forget the people I met. My brothers are both in education, one in our school district and the other in our community college.
My husbands family came here from Mexico in 1935 and not legally, they recieved citizenship in the 70's. I find it puzzling that immigrants are typically not mentioned when it comes to Southern Pride? My husbands family raised 5 children that went on to become great Texans. My father in law was a janitor that later ended up retiring from our school district at 72 years old. My Mother in law was a maid for one of the oldest and most beloved hotel here in Austin. They still spoke mainly spanish in their home. I cannot imagine them knowing too much about the Confederacy. My husband and I took care of them until they died. They were both in their 80's and worked hard all of their lives. They did not have much, but they were beautiful and caring people.
My parents were hippies in Austin. I remember going with my mom as she and her friends chained themselves to tree to protest a development in the early 70's. My Father is a retired professor from the University Of Texas. He was all about education and both of my parents raised myself and my two brothers to be decent citizens and to believe in our backgrounds and lives.
When we talk about "Southern Heritage" this is what we are talking about! And really to be completely honest I really do not remember any talk of the civil war or the flag. This was just not a topic of conversation. Our background was mostly focused on our Swedish and Scottish backgrounds.
I am tired of people pigeonholing us. Yes, we have issues. I know this. We are not perfect, but not all of us are flag waving white folks! And please, please...do not say I am being "sensitive". I am just being truthful.
In closing.. Cornbread should NOT be sweet and Chili should NOT have beans.
Thank you.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)No one is disputing anyone's laying claim to anyone's heritage, but the Dixie Swastika is not symbolic of just that.
The Germans got it right with the symbols of their past failed racist nation.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)That are disputing that very fact.
My whole point is that my "southern pride" has nothing to do with the flag or the Confederacy. It never has and never will.
Igel
(35,390 posts)Unless the "failed" bit is what's really important.
Brazil's flag represented slavery and racism on a grander scale than the US, whose flag also represented slavery. Then there's the Union Jack.
No, I think what really matters is internal US politics and this odd thing that Americans have of imagining that redefining a symbol bears some relation to redefining reality. It's the whole form over substance thing that we superficial, crass materialist consumers have been stuck with since at least the '60s, with a bit of French '50s Marxist thought added for justification.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)The (flag) motto, or lema in Portuguese, of Ordem e Progresso (Order and Progress) came from positivist French philosopher Auguste Comte, of whom the overthrowers of the monarchy were fans. Comtes whole motto was Love as a principle and order as the basis; Progress as the goal".
And racism is not woven in as it is into the Dixie Swastika.
Why this has to be explained on a liberal/socialist site is...sad.
http://streetsmartbrazil.com/brazilian-culture-history-meaning-brazilian-flag/
BlueCollar
(3,859 posts)Would you please share what you were thinking when you made that statement?
still_one
(92,525 posts)blessing. Japanese Americans had their property confiscated, and they were put in internment camps during WII.
DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)Chili has to have beans.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)NO! Just NO!
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)Hangingon
(3,071 posts)Is it okay to eat watermelon too? Growing up in the South, I didn't eat too many meals that didn't have cornbread (bread, not cake) or corn in another form, black-eyed peas, or watermelon. Or all of them. It's what all poor Southerners of any color ate. Now I just don't mention it in polite company.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)We eat watermelon all of the time! I love to sprinkle chili and limon' on it!
We just bought one at HEB just a few days ago.
Are you serious?
Sophiegirl
(2,338 posts)Watermelon should be served cold with salt and yes, chili must have pinto beans.
Lochloosa
(16,084 posts)Pretty please.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)I'll do it!
Warpy
(111,462 posts)then beans have a perfectly honorable place in chili.
Just don't expect to win any chili contests with 'em in there.
Sophiegirl
(2,338 posts)Won chili cook offs with beans in my chili. But I have a secret ingredient that puts it over the top.
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)Have reputed to put in their chili, (like rattlesnake or other "critters" I'll take beans any day of the week.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)but not the meat-based chili
DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)Of course I don't think I've ever had inedible chili.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)I know it makes a difference. About 10 years I started eating really well and it has paid off. About 90 % of the meat I eat is deer.
I haven't tried the brand you suggested. It's probably hard to find in a town that only had three grocery stores.
I do appreciate the suggestion.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)(and the best chili I've ever had, period) was made with venison. I'm going to have to get him to email me a copy of his recipe. You'd probably like it, as it's really just the chili liquid/sauce and the meat. Any of the few other vegetables in it (onions and jalapeños, I think) have long since cooked down by the time it's ready to serve.
So, I haven't yet tried it with the fake meat, but expect it to be just as delicious. And that's understandable about not being able to get the fake meats. Sometimes it's difficult even in a large city without having to drive all over to find a certain brand at a good price. For me, the fake meats I like often cost a dollar or two less at Whole Foods than at my convenient grocery (Kroger) and the other major chains in town (Fiesta and HEB) don't carry what I like at all. If I knew how to make them myself, I would
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)kentauros
(29,414 posts)thus why I need to get my father to email me a copy. I tend not to lose computer files
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)kentauros
(29,414 posts)He keeps too much stuff on paper
snooper2
(30,151 posts)just FYI
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)Who in the world doesn't like black eyed peas?
Warpy
(111,462 posts)and I left like I was shot out of a cannon.
Mine comes in my cooking, well seasoned with herbs and spices and, yes, cayenne, a real shock to people in Boston who were used to boiled dinners and pretty much unseasoned deep fried fish. Say what you will about deep fried Twinkies, the south still has the best food in the country. Well, the eastern half of the country.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)And I understand that.
I'm a native Austinite, I just cannot imagine being anywhere else. It's not perfect here but I am not sure anywhere else would be to my liking.
Yes, southern cooking is the best!
Quayblue
(1,045 posts)Jk and
Sweet cornbread! Just NO!!!
DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,561 posts)Thanks for the thread, Texasgal.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)for understanding what I am saying!
NRaleighLiberal
(60,037 posts)then again I am a transplant from New England!
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,037 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Live their state. I choose to remain im the south, proud of my heritage. I did nor have any control of events which occurred some generations back, I can only work on improving the future just like everyone else.
Thanks for your post, enjoyed very much.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)Thank you. Yes, we can only work on improving the future.
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)What European country did your family of origin come from?
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)In the 50s, my mom collected little anecdotes for a family cookbook, and the subject of sweet cornbread came up. We still have that old heirloom cookbook and the recipe for sweet cornbread is the one everyone in our family uses. I don't know if it's true, but I like that there is some logic to the story.
Anyway, as my Kentucky great grandma told it, sweet cornbread was a necessity that began when imported wheat flour became scarce. Bread making uses up a lot of four, but a lot less is needed for a big pan of cornbread and all the ingredients were available locally. Sugar was cheap and supplies overstocked because of wartime embargos, so it was added for taste and to keep money in the community. My great aunts from Florida added to the story, remarking that it was Northern cornbread that was 'plain' because they no longer had shipments of Southern sugar. They attributed the popularity of unsweetened cornbread after the war to the price increases prompted by the demand for sugar, and it was also the prefered choice of Northerners moving into the South during Reconstruction.
DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)But it would explain it.
Old family cookbooks are very cool.
joanbarnes
(1,724 posts)brer cat
(24,659 posts)When I was a child and we would visit our relatives, my mother always took along a jug of "our" tea 'cause everyone else had that sickening sweet stuff. You couldn't taste the tea for the sugar.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)Sweet Tea.
We did TEA, but it was brewed in the sun with no sugar, although my Mom would add a teaspoon or so when we asked.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)but its not like a lot of the southern stuff, so sweet you can feel your teeth hurt. No more than a cup of sugar for a gallon of tea.
Some teas more resemble syrups.
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)an issue and your right, southern pride means different things to different people, good post...
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Thanks for sharing your story.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)but I was so happy to find something I could eat that I eat it with relish! I don't know if sugar is the first ingredient but I can taste it and it isn't supposed to be there!
My father loved Blackstrap Molasses and cornbread in buttermilk. He used to eat it with a spoon....shades of the depression when hunger was familiar and you ate what you had.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)My first batch of gluten-free cornbread made me crazy. I still love it.
I love the brownie mix I get from Aldis. I stir in a load of walnuts. No wonder I'm on the hefty side.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)They have good gluten free pancakes too. My son likes his with mashed banana added...he enjoys the cornbread too, and the brownies...yeah we have the same problem but we think it's the water!
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)I'll have to try bananas too.
dflprincess
(28,095 posts)Svenskarnas Dag?
Trajan
(19,089 posts)Born to the streets of NYC ...
I guess I don't appreciate the genteel airs or southern culture in general ....
I lived in the Ozarks for 15 months .... 15 of the most awful months of my life ....
I see the south as holding the nation back from progress ...
I see Texas and the south as an American Maquiladoras center - where wages go to die ...
It's not my world ...
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)that's OKAY.
I would love to invite you down here to Austin. I think you mind would change.
DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)DFW
(54,506 posts)Though one grandfather was born in Charleston, SC in 1894 and moved north early on--worked his way through Harvard as a janitor. But I'm perfectly comfortable in both cultures, and now have children perfectly comfortable in two cultures (Germany and USA).
You don't have to be confined to just one world.
dem in texas
(2,674 posts)She came to the US when 9 years old and her family settled in Travis county, near the old town of Creedmore. She married my Grandfather who was Scottish. My great-grand father was from Scotland and landed in Pike County, Illinois. When the Civil War broke out, he was a Democrat (they were called Copperheads)but he enlisted and fought for the Union. After the war, hard feelings existed between the Republicans and Democrats in Pike County. Feelings were so strong that there was even a murder - a Republican killed a Democrat. There is book written about what went on in Pike County.
Anyway, because of the hard feelings, he picked up and moved his family to Texas and settled in Travis county. Being a Democrat is deeply ingrained in my heritage.
Texans don't put sugar in their cornbread and always eat mustard, but no mayo or catsup on their hamburgers.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)Perhaps.
Thank you for your post. We swedes need to appreciate and remember our heritage.
dem in texas
(2,674 posts)My grandmother's maiden name was Kullenburg. My sister has done a lot of work on our family tree, even researched and found relatives in Sweden. My great-grandfather was a doctor in Travis county and served as head of the Travis County school board. My grandfather and grandmother had 10 boys and one set of twin girls, one of the girls was my mother. When naming the boys, they finally ran out of names and the last boy was named Travis Austin. Don't have any family left in the Austin area, we all live in North Texas now.
Grits are not a Texas food, they belong in Georgia and that area as does sweet tea. We always drink our iced tea with no sugar, but lots of ice! I grew up in a family with 6 kids and my mother always added beans to her chili, trying to feed so many mouths.
Thespian2
(2,741 posts)Went to graduate school at the University of Houston...loved all the progressive people I met at the Univ...didn't much care for a few uber-wealthy I came to know...No need to disagree with those folks...Nixon was one of their important heroes...Yes, I was there in the '70's...Unlike Austin, Houston is so polluted that breathing is very difficult...and you face major waits at the allergy clinics...
Growing up in Georgia, we ate rabbits, squirrels, fish, pork...corn bread in all shapes (not sweet)...poke-salat (not a misspell), watermelons...chilli came from a can, along with spam and Dinty Moore...We were poor...
In Texas, I came to appreciate the Mexican culture...including the food, specially corn bread...I have spent many months in the last decades living in coastal villages along Mexico's Pacific coastline...
Writing this to let all know that there is nothing that can be pin-pointed as "Southern Heritage"...the South contains many heritages, so we cannot all be painted with a broad brush...not all of us fought the Civil War over and over...
PADemD
(4,482 posts)The first time I visited Florida, there were grits on my breakfast plate. I didn't know what they were or how to eat them.
Here in PA, we eat scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes, and sometimes scrapple for breakfast.
DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)As some sort of industrial sealer or engine cleaner.
NBachers
(17,189 posts)and can't be pigeonholed into any single category.
I agree heartily with you on cornbread- it's cornbread, not cakebread.
The chili issue is open to discussion, but the volume of the discussion will be amplified by the bean-eaters.
Texasgal
(17,049 posts)people! UGH!
Thank you for your response.
brer cat
(24,659 posts)The civil war was never discussed in my family, and we didn't sit around pining for antebellum days. There are many liberal democrats all over the south. And no sweet cornbread or sweet tea.
NBachers
(17,189 posts)What's passed off these days as sweet tea is just . . . wrong! I drink 80 ounces of tea most days of the week, but not a grain of sugar in it at all.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)has EVER discussed the civil war outside of a history class.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)curlyred
(1,879 posts)No sweet cornbread!
Poor white trash democrats, born and bred.
drthais
(870 posts)and our Southern-ness is as different from South Carolina as it is in Texas.
But I must say, we like our cornbread sweet...although, I must agree, chili should never, ever have beans.
Response to Texasgal (Original post)
herding cats This message was self-deleted by its author.
PufPuf23
(8,856 posts)Wish there were more people like you in any state or region.
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)The rebel battle flag does not necessarily represent any of that. It is closely associated with resistance to public school integration. This association pretty much poisons it for anything or anyone else.
cstanleytech
(26,361 posts)(kidding)
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)udbcrzy2
(891 posts)My father said NO beans in the chili, but I like them in mine.
madokie
(51,076 posts)English, German and Cherokee.
Big family, 13 kids in all, 9 of us still alive. Oldest 84 youngest 63, me 67. Grand Father joined the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War to Free the Slaves although his Father was a Slave owner. They lived in Georgia. My dad was born in 1897 and being the youngest in his big family all the family history was passed down to him for safe keeping. All that is kept in a safe deposit box.
I never knew the importance of the symbol of the confederate flag although it's always made me uneasy. I never knew why until lately, now I know why that is. I've never had a desire to own that flag nor display it.
My dad was the 7th son and I'm my dads 7th son. If that means anything
I know all about long guns, lived by them as a kid as hunting game was what put meat on the table most times. never was around pistols though. By the time I was in the first grade I could skin a squirrel or rabbit with the best of them. During the winter months my brother and I would get up at 4 am to go run our rabbit traps and if we were lucky and had a rabbit in one of them we'd have meat to go with the eggs, oatmeal, biscuit and gravy for breakfast. Most days that wouldn't be the case because back then the game was pretty much all hunted out. I never seen a deer until I went to the zoo somewhere around the 3rd or 4th grade because there were none in the wild around here. Today they're a nuisance. My how times have changed. I could go on and on but its late and I don't want to bore anyone any further.
Peace
Thank you for your post
I might add. My dads family went to Oregon by wagon train in the 1890s and they came back by wagon train two years later and settled in Oklahoma where he was born. For some reason they didn't settle down in Oregon. Thats how we wound up here in northeast Ok.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)It is a meal. Chili without beans is hot dog topping.
I will defend Texas BBQ to the ends of the earth (don't give me that vinegar-based, pulled pork mush from NC, yuck!) but Texans are dead wrong on chili.
And maybe a few other things.
And I'm stealing the hot dog comment. That's so accurate.
Gothmog
(145,950 posts)I am a third generation Texan and I loved your post
DFW
(54,506 posts)Men jag kan tala svenska ganska bra, har varit i Sverige flera gånger.
Of course, I now live closer to Sweden that Dallas. Just a two hour flight up to Stockholm as opposed to ten hours to get back to Dallas.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Great OP.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)unblock
(52,501 posts)i met mrs. unblock at threadgill's a long time ago.
i do miss austin.
sigh.
still_one
(92,525 posts)who does the best barbecue?
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)still_one
(92,525 posts)CTyankee
(63,926 posts)helped me see the light on pork...
still_one
(92,525 posts)CTyankee
(63,926 posts)my stepson's graduation day at Tulane was a multi cultural as you could get...just beautiful...and I get back to New Haven and Yale is giving an honorary degree to GW Bush. I thought I'd throw up...
still_one
(92,525 posts)CTyankee
(63,926 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)frequently spending a month or two or longer in individual places in our country.
The best BBQ I have eaten was either in Memphis, or Paducah, Kentucky.
The meat smokey & tender, and was served with sauce on the side, and was not sweet or "ketchupy" at all.
I brought a case of Paducah BBQ sauce home with me.
Born & raised in South Louisiana close to New Orleans.
Spent many years living & working across the country.
I was headed for Alaska when I met my future wife in Minnesota in 1999.
(Everybody should see Minnesota in February.)
After Katrina and the disastrous election of 2004, we decided to move to a hilltop in The Woods and start growing our own food. We wanted the Pacific North West, but couldn't afford the Buy In. We found another place that met our list of requirements in the Ouachita Mountains of West/Central Arkansas. We moved there in 2006,
and haven't regretted a single day.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)I can't really recommend that kind of thing anymore (vegetarian for fifteen years now.) So, I'll defer and recommend you to read my favorite local food critic of all time: Robb Walsh. He's probably the best source you'll read if you want to learn about what makes the best BBQ the best
still_one
(92,525 posts)kentauros
(29,414 posts)I just wanted to "promote" my favorite food critic because he knows his stuff when it comes to BBQ
Barbecue Crossroads: Notes & Recipes from a Southern Odyssey
(And now to re-familiarize myself with a recipe for meringue made from chickpea water )
still_one
(92,525 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)Oh, and you don't put fucking sauce on BBQ!
http://www.lockhartsmokehouse.com/
mentalsolstice
(4,463 posts)"Mint Juleps, Tara, Happy Slaves, and noble warriors in grey fighting for States Rights." Really?
I like mint juleps, I enjoy the old architecture (although I don't appreciate it in that it was built and maintained on the backs of the enslaved and dirt poor whites). "Happy Slaves," holy shit! Most of my generation eschews that crap!
Otherwise, I'm proud of modern southern culture, which can be enjoyed by black and white equally. I love bluegrass and jazz (RIP BB!), a genteel hospitality, native oaks with spanish moss, and bourbon. The beauty of the Appalachian mountains and our beaches and the fact it takes less than a day in most cases to get to one or the other. And, OMG, the FOOD! From low country to Texas, you have seafood, fresh veggies, and BBQ. Contrary to popular belief, we don't deep fry everything.
I live in a fairly large southern city. I like living here, it's not perfect, especially when you get out into the rural parts. However, for the most part, black and white folk have found a way to coexist and enjoy each other. In my own neighborhood, black, white, LGBT, we have parties where all are accepted, including blended families. When I'm introduced to a person, my mind doesn't register skin color or sexual orientation.
I often laugh at the "south bashing" here, because many DUers who do so live in areas where there isn't a large minority presence. And they haven't stepped foot in cities in the South where we're coexisting, supporting and blending. In the city I live in we have a lot of northerners coming in because of our main employers are medicine and banks. It's so funny to see how they acclimate. They'll clutch their wallets and purses, and whisper about their black neighbors and coworkers, when they do I'll feign deafness and ask them to speak up. At the same time they'll act superior because they're northerners. Pfft!
CTyankee
(63,926 posts)I have a friend from Tennessee who makes the BEST cornbread I can find in the NE. Of course, it is not sweet. AND she puts bacon grease in it. Wonderful!
As for beans in chili, I thought that was a sin and a crime (of course I didn't think you could leave TX w/o dire penalties...) but my midwestern husband likes the beans and I find them an extender of the dish so I've gotten used to them. I actually like them now.
I love my Austin relatives. Good people. I loved visiting my aunt and uncle in Brownwood, TX every summer...loved them so much and the nice, small town it once was...
kentuck
(111,111 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Texasgal
(17,049 posts)We agree!
My point is it is not part of MY heritage. Never has been nor will it ever be.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Response to Texasgal (Original post)
Warren DeMontague This message was self-deleted by its author.
mmonk
(52,589 posts)I understand. The south is not a monolith but the bad people are always the loudest and get all the press. It is the rest of us who bear the yoke of it.