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Posted on 02/13/2005 1:43:27 PM PST by foolscap
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) -- When Becky Cleaveland is out with her girlfriends, they all pick at salads except for the petite Atlanta woman. She tackles "The Hamdog."
The dish, a specialty of Mulligan's, a suburban bar, is a hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that's deep fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah, it's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries.
"The owner says I'm the only girl who can eat a whole one without flinching," Cleaveland said proudly.
Amid a national obesity epidemic and the South's infamous distinction as the "Stroke Belt," health officials have been trying to get diners to flinch, at least a little, at the region's trademark fried and fatty foods.
But nutritionists have found it's hard to teach an old region new tricks. How can Southerners give up delicious staples fried chicken, fried seafood, fried green tomatoes and cornbread slathered in butter?
Even at the Atlanta headquarters of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leader of the nation's anti-obesity campaign, the cafeteria serves up such artery-clogging regional favorites as biscuits and gravy.
CDC nutritionist Annie Carr said the agency is working to get its house in order by pushing the cafeteria to serve popular foods in healthy ways. The broader goals of the anti-obesity campaign are to educate people to cook with less fat and sugar and to promote the idea of eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
And for the South, that doesn't mean vegetables and greens flavored with bacon and meat drippings
"I don't think anything is wrong with the kind of vegetables we eat in the South - it's the way they are prepared," said former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, the interim president of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, who grew up eating traditional Southern staples on a farm in Alabama. "We need more fruits and vegetables in our diet."
Health officials' concerns with healthy eating in the South date back to 1962, when the CDC noted a large concentration of counties with high stroke death rates in the coastal states of North and South Carolina and Georgia. More than three decades later, the high stroke rates in that region seem to have shifted west to counties along the Mississippi River Delta.
Health officials have spent thousands of dollars on grants to promote healthy eating, including sending nutritionists into community centers and churches. The food experts introduce healthier cooking practices, such as alternatives to frying and methods that reduce the fat in gravy and sauces. But those efforts have found resistance from some cooks who say the healthier recipes alter the taste of their dishes.
"Flavor is a big issue - when you modify Southern cooking, then you lose a lot of the flavor," said Laurita Burley, a clinical nutrition instructor at the Morehouse School of Medicine. "The reputation of the Southern cook is at risk when you begin to modify it."
Much of the South's traditional foods date back to the days of slavery. Frying was preferable in the region's hot climate, since it didn't take as long as baking and didn't heat up a house as much. Plus, Burley said, workers didn't have all day to prepare meals; they had to get back into the fields to work. Lard was also plentiful. Today, frying still is popular, especially in poor areas of the South, because it is also inexpensive.
While it's quick, easy and adds flavor, frying loads ordinarily healthy foods with calories and fat.
"One of the common things in the South is that you fry everything," said Dr. Nicholas Lang, chief of staff of the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System in Little Rock. "It's a major grease-transport mechanism - there's no idea how much calories you get when you get that."
Other research has found that frying, grilling and smoking certain foods can cause chemical reactions within the food that can increase the risk of cancer.
"The best advice is to fry less and to eat their meat medium rather than well-done - and do like their momma said and add vegetables," said Lang, also a professor of surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Back at Mulligan's in Decatur, owner Chandler Goff is quick to point out that the bar also offers healthy alternatives, such as salads and sandwiches that aren't deep-fried.
But he acknowledged that the "Hamdog" and the "Luther Burger," a bacon-cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun, are what draw attention.
As for Cleaveland, she says she doesn't think about cholesterol. "I probably should, but I do not. I'm only 25, maybe later." For now, she's able to maintain her 5-foot-7, 115-pound physique without regular exercise.
Regardless of age, Lang doesn't recommend the Hamdog, even as a one-time snack.
"If you choke that down, you might as well find a heart surgeon because you are going to need one."
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Maybe they should just start frying everything in olive oil? :)
Til they come up with a heart attack in pill form, this'll do.
This sounds like something out of the Simpsons. First we take one pound of pure beef, then cover it in rich, creamery butter...
Americans eat too much (in terms of portion size) and exercise too little. This is why we have an obesity epidemic.
Besides, maybe this food and early stroke allows them to die happy rather than live to 103 with no eyesight, no hair, no solid food and no memory.
My own wild guess is that it is no younger than anywhere else; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't a bit older.
Thanks...
Look out - the food police are coming!!
The world's best meal IMO would make them apoplectic:
Breaded and fried catfish, freedom fries, a thick slice of raw vidalia onion, lemon (fresh), tartar sauce, and hushpuppies washed down with sweet tea and lemon icebox pie for dessert. It just doesn't get any better than that! HE he he!!
Amen! Couldn't have said it better myself.
<><
Oh good Lord the arrogant attitude towards anything Southern is ridiculous. Leave us alone already.
No wonder the yankees are so grim.
But although vegetable oils such as corn and canola don't have cholesterol, they still have calories.
When you pry it from my cold, dead, greasy fingers, THAT'S when.
Damn Yankee busybodies!
Why don't you go to New York and worry about the new strain of AIDS the buggers have managed to concoct?
Aggh! These people make me sick.
The sad thing is, I could probably bench press any of these pencil-necked fools, even though I DON'T eat what THEY think I should!
My arteries feel more clogged just reading that...
Not this yankee, My veins are filled with Crisco.
Sorry, privacy "rights"keeps the Gov out of pervert parked cars, alleyways and bathhouses...only in your kitchen can they interfere.
"If you choke that down, you might as well find a heart surgeon because you are going to need one."
These alarmists amuse me. As if a single meal will all by itself trigger a heart attack.
My grandmother, who will turn 92 years old this year, has spent practically every morning of her life eating biscuits soaked in bacon grease with eggs and sausage. Everyday she would fry something. Catfish, chicken, even vegetables like okra (a Southern specialty if there ever was one). For dessert, there would always be apple cobbler or some other "heart-attack inducing" delicacy.
Then again, she didn't sit around the house watching Oprah all those years. Even when she was well into her 80s, she would be out mowing the grass or doing other yard work. When she was younger, she could handle just about any outdoor chore that a man would normally do.
I'm sure she'd be just as active today but unfortunately she suffers from Alzheimers and is in a nursing home. Her heart is perfectly healthy however.
And for dessert, they serve Twinkies deep-fried in Cap’n Crunch, and topped with chocolate and whip cream.
Damn......
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