<p>I don’t think anyone would have trouble in my corner of SE. I know only 1 person who is native-born. My friends from midwest or up north, even if they have lived here over 25 years. Housing much more affordable, very little time lost in traveling to jobs, and clothing costs < half.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I have my own fruit trees.</p>
<p>Grcxx3, my late inlaws from the midwest ate a lot of extremely bland food, and complained when I put things like fresh herbs in the food (My FIL asked why there were grass clippings in it. Ha. Ha. Ha. :rolleyes:). I recall my FIL holding forth about how he hated garlic at the dinner table, and I replied, “That’s odd, because you just had your third helping of garlic mashed potatoes!” People of their age, class, and political inclination tended to make a big deal about how they didn’t eat those strange Italian/Mexican/whatever spices. I’m a northerner, and my entire family loves and cooks spicy foods of all kinds</p>
<p>And while we’re on the subject of southern food, I might add that I LOVE sausage gravy and biscuits, chicken-fried steak and milk gravy with lots of pepper, and all of those other things that are supposed to be so bad for you!</p>
<p>My big new thing moving from Texas to TN was “meat and three”. Basically, it’s a Southern cooking restaurant where you get a meat (of your choosing) and three (or two) vegetables. One of my first days at my new job I was invited out to lunch at a “meat and three” and I had no idea what they were talking about. Our favorite is the Asian-run meat and three near the office! Getya a good Chickin’ fried and some collard greens!</p>
<p>Austin is the southwest. I find Nashville very similar to Austin, only we like the climate better.</p>
<p>I consider Austin to be a creature unto itself. Certainly more Southern than Northern, and more Western than Eastern, but I mainly think of it as Liberal Texan.</p>
<p>MOWC, that’s good news. Some of our best friends are moving to Nashville next month, and they’re longtime Austinites.</p>
<p>There is a Whole Foods just across the street from East Campus at Duke.</p>
<p>Consolation - I can appreciate the “generational” difference with the spices and such - but this problem is extending into the younger generations at an alarming speed! And it doesn’t help that no one in the family has the interest in moving more than 1 hour away from the family! Shoot - a bunch of them live within 1 mile of each other. So…no chance of instilling new taste sensations via exposure to new and different places! Oh well…I love them dearly, but every other year visits are just fine with me!</p>
<p>As for the political inclination -don’t know what you FIL was like - but my in-laws are all long-time liberals, where DH and I are quite conservative.</p>
<p>And while we’re talking southern food - ever had grillades??? It’s a classic New Orleans dish made with veal stew meat with lots tomatoes, onions, peppers and best served over grits. Yeah - grits are hard to get north of the Mason-Dixon line - but I found them when I lived overseas…so they got to be available somewhere!</p>
<p>I am in Michigan, and we can buy grits in the same part of the cereal aisle as oatmeal. :)</p>
<p>Consolation, that’s what my parents meant by “unhealthy” eating haha</p>
<p>a couple more stereotypes:</p>
<p>do people in the south smoke more cigarettes than in the north (we smoke marijuana here haha)</p>
<p>and today my dad pointed out that one of his coworkers has a cousin visiting from Dallas and that this person wanted to go to a Red Sox game. However, parking costs a lot around Fenway Park so public transportation was the best option. But the person from Austin apparently had an objection to walking a few blocks from the subway system to the park! </p>
<p>Also I noticed that NOBODY walks at Clemson outside of the university (in the residential areas) and the beautiful sidewalks are being put to waste, what’s up with that? are people in the South not up for physical activities such as biking or taking walks? (My mom studied for a short while at Wichita State University in Kansas and she reported also that nobody walked on the streets there either, everyone drove everywhere). I don’t blame people though it’s hard crossing a 4 lane street and there aren’t many crosswalks either.
In my town in MA, people walk/bike everywhere, even 1 mile to school everyday!</p>
<p>pierre - did you ever stop to consider that people don’t walk a lot down here - especially in the summer - because it’s MISERABLY HOT???</p>
<p>There is nothing worse than coming out of a nice air-conditioned building and walking 6-8 blocks in sweltering heat and humidity and then walking back into an air-conditioned place. </p>
<p>mafool - Glad to see grits are making their way around the US and the world!!!</p>
<p>ah right, I never considered that, thanks for reminding me of that</p>
<p>I’ve never seen or eaten grits before, I should try sometime haha</p>
<p>several things I need to try:
<p>But I think they are “quick grits.” I don’t buy instant anything. Is there a sacrifice in grit quality if you go “quick?”</p>
<p>I live in the Mid-Atlantic and I didn’t even know a thing such as Whole Foods even existed until recently. And to be honest, it’s a pretty yuppie place to shop. I hope it’s not like that everywhere, but here, only the rich and the yuppie can shop at Whole Foods.</p>
<p>pierre, suggest you start with cheese grits with butter if grits are new to you.</p>
<p>Whole Foods is one of my D’s favorite places in Nashville … she can eat all the samples for free!! She ate Easter dinner there, too. As for being expensive … she says Publix can actually be more expensive for produce.</p>
<p>Pierre, southern sweet tea is the nectar of the gods. I dream of the sweet tea at Schonyers in Augusta … ahhhh. :)</p>
<p>Grcxx3, I just forwarded your last comment about how difficult it is to walk in the south because of the heat and humidity to my mom and this is basically what she said:</p>
<p>In China (especially Hong Kong where she grew up), it’s just as hot as in the Southern US yet everyone walks, even between the air conditioned buildings! Basically the US is the only place where people will have this complaint…</p>
<p>Anyways, more questions that I have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why is the obesity rate so high in the South among states like Mississippi, South Carolina etc…</li>
<li>Why are people so much slow paced in the south while it’s a mad dash to do everything up here in the north?</li>
</ul>
<p>By the way, what exactly are grits? I’ve heard of them but can anyone give me a description?</p>
<p>mafool - are the “quick grits” you see the ones that take about 5 minutes to cook (stove top) or the ones in little packets that you add 1/2 boiling water to?</p>
<p>I did the little packets for my kids because they were easier (they liked the bacon ones), but for me, I prefer the grits (usually in a Quaker Oats cardboard container) that take about 5 minutes.</p>
<p>I think they are the 5 minute kind.</p>
<p>Pierre, we’re just playing with you. At least, I am.</p>
<p>Thanks for being such a good sport. </p>
<p>And thanks for all your engineering advice with my son. I really do appreciate it.</p>