Taste of the American South: 5 dishes to try while visiting

Native Americans set the Southern table first. Even before the cultivation of maize, beans, squash, sunflowers, Chenopodium and maypop, there existed a virgin forest brimming with millions of freely available hickory nuts, persimmons and wild grapes, along with a bevvy of foraged foods. This abundance provided the background for the rich culture of the Mound Builders and their descendants.

Many foods of the Caribbean, Mesoamerica and beyond are also central to Southern cooking. Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, peppers and more all came through the South, often via cultural mixing with West and Central Africans. It would usually be here that most historical narratives introduce Europeans to the story. But to understand the South, we turn instead to Africa. Many African indigenous foods had made it east across the Atlantic by the time enslaved Africans were forced to follow. The new African palate – enriched by yams, rice, okra, etc – married  those staples with the crops they found in the South.

The European colonisation of the region tied all these pieces together. The Spanish and French zealously worked to establish their distinct cooking traditions of roux, sauces, paellas and soups, taking in all that the Atlantic world had to offer while imposing the Old World. British and Germanic customs came to dominate, along with their Protestant traditions. Pies, wheat-based breads, puddings and roasts were among the hearty dishes – built for the cold, sufficient for the heat – that became part of the Southern diet while melding with ideas from the other foundational peoples.

Today’s Southerners are dynamic eaters, cooks and entertainers. We brunch at fine-dining establishments in inns and old cotton mills, while many start their day with a biscuit sandwich, often at fast-food joints. We celebrate with food spreads at autumn tailgate parties, winter oyster roasts, spring cotillions and, of course, summer barbecues.

But the politics of Southern food is baked in. It is soaked in Native removal, racial caste systems and social justice, gender roles, ability issues, sexuality and class. Our ability to appreciate the newfound zeal for Southern food means confronting this. These aren’t just dishes; they are the pleasure and pain of millions of women, men and children who have come before and the heritage and legacy of millions to come.

Five Southern USA dishes you should try (and where to get them)

Grits are the South’s standard porridge, and it is best to think of them as our culinary canvas par excellence. Some people like them plain-ish with butter, salt and black pepper, while others like them smothered with different sauces and proteins, from cutlets to fish to the south-eastern coast’s favourite, shrimp.

Where to eat: For grits that will warm your soul in the morning, try Magnolias in Charleston, South Carolina (magnoliascharleston.com).

This Low Country dish reads as curry and has its origins in the 18th century, when the British, after their exposure to multi-regional Indian cuisine, brought it to the American South. Then African hands took over, taking the rice, chicken and spices and doing what they do so well. The spices are neither roasted nor toasted, and the sauce is built in a way that West Africans might build their protein-rich stews: fry, then stew.

Where to eat: The gold standard is found at The Grey in Savannah, Georgia, where chef Mashama Bailey holds court (thegreyrestaurant.com).

Acadians (later Cajuns) were French settlers who migrated to south Louisiana after being expelled by the British from Nova Scotia. This dish illustrates their rustic style of cooking, built around roux, onions, stock, charcuterie and garden produce. It joins a large number of one-pot dishes in Southern foodways.

Where to eat: Head straight to Gumbo Shop in New Orleans’ French Quarter in Louisiana. Its version is not too spicy; it’s comforting instead, and the flavours are heavenly (gumboshop.com).

Also known as batter bread, this custardy side dish was born in the Chesapeake Bay region in the earliest cultural collisions between Native Americans and British. It then spread west as Southerners migrated out of Maryland and Virginia. It is used to complement the ham and chicken served on the tables of the Upper South.

Where to eat: Try it 18th-century-style at Christiana Campbell’s Tavern in the living museum of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia (colonialwilliamsburg.org). In Kentucky, head to Berea in September for its Spoonbread Festival.

Thanks in large part to enslaved labour, pecan cultivation became widespread in the South, with Georgia becoming a leader in pecan production in 1870. Pecan pie was invented soon after. Texas probably started it (as a pecan-egg-custard-type pie), but Georgia perfected it, as it morphed into a syrup-based dish in the 1900s.

Where to eat: A good friend suggests Independent Baking Co (independentbaking.com) in Athens, Georgia, for nutty, flaky goodness.

This extract was adapted from Recipes from the American South by Michael W Twitty (Phaidon; £40), which sees the James Beard Award-winning author and culinary historian document more than 260 of the region’s most beloved dishes through the lens of a home cook. Out now.

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Michael W Twitty gives an insightful talk on his journey through African American culinary history in the Old South on his The Cooking Gene YouTube channel.