Good ol' Southern Boy

Fear not, those of you who have read the title and thought that i've become like something out of "The Dukes of Hazzard" (although i wouldn't mind driving that car, especially the sliding over the bonnet). However, having begun to nicely settle into life in the lab (and city) here, i've taken it upon myself to become acquainted with some of the, shall we say, peculiarities of both US and Southern US living in preparation for the inevitable trips that you all are going to be making here. For starters, when considering food in the US, the South is perhaps considered to have the upper hand in that it's very "home-grown" cooking and food. But is it any good?

There are some very unusual things to be had here - besides the fast-food restaurants of course (of which there are a huge number of different chains. We've got McDs, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, Arbys, Wendys, Pizza Hut and other that i'm sure i've forgotten). Grits for one - of which the best description is "like porridge (aka oatmeal here) except with corn instead." I've not tried it yet (i intend to) because the grits i've seen so far resembled wallpaper paste. Watch this space. With regards to the "sides" over here, it's true what they say - 'Slaw (aka coleslaw) and potato salad are always on show. Along with mac-and-cheese - macaroni cheese. I've tried some of that - and it's okay, but not as good as the stuff Mum used to make when i was younger. And then there's cornbread - something that i tried today for the first time. What is it? Well, it's basically bread - with cornmeal instead of flour (i guess it's ground up corn instead of wheat). It arrives looking like a wedge of cake - and it tastes pretty good. The closest thing i can think to resemble it in taste and texture is, perhaps, madeira cake (except the stuff i had wasn't as sweet). Apparently, it's good to have it really sweet with maple syrup. Sounds nice but not sure if i'd have it with savoury stuff as well. But then i do have christmas cake and wendsleydale cheese so what do i know?