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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ROFL!!!!
Parkway North!
You?
ROTF.....George Burns was warned by 3 doctors to quit smoking cigars, and drinking scotch every day. He buried all three!
Seriously though, California really needs a few Crackerbarrel restaurants.
Actually, canola is rapeseed oil. Soybean oil is typically marketed as 'vegetable oil.'
GreatGrandma and GrandMa made greasy bread. Oh,I can taste it now! Mom made the best stuffed pork chops and barbequed lamb chops. I love to barbeque turkey parts like the thigh and breast.
You know, it is possible for Americans to work on more than one issue at any given time.
You didn't mention the possibility of a new Pauly Shore movie.
I've been on an 8 year quest to find the perfect cheeseburger, and so far, the two best are one I had at some Bennigan's-like place(I forget it's name, but that burger was good!) on the Westbank in the New Orleans' suberbs, and the other comes from a local bar in my hometown. I usually hate ketchup on my burger, but they mix it with Tobasco, and it's unbelievable.
That one is just too unlikely to make the list.
However, if it should happen, I will include it.
A young man of my acquaintance, a St. Louisan, went with his bride to visit her relatives in Jackson, MS in the 1980s. While there, the two really wanted to find a bagel, but all the Jackson natives they asked thought they were referring to "labels" and kept directing them to office supply stores. I imagine they settled for a donut until they could get back to St. Loo.
Chaminade, class of 80
ain't complete or healthy without some greens cooked with ham hocks and doused with the pepper sauce (you know, the one you refill until the peppers turn grey, then you eat the peppers)
Amen! They also conveniently ignore the fact that Yankees surely don't eat 'healthy' all the time either. How about hot dogs, philly cheesesteaks, so on? You are right too - I am more than willing to take on any Yankee woman in a cooking contest AND a fitness one :)
Reminds of that old song "That's What I Like About the South" performed by Phil Harris (among others):
"Lets go down to Alabammy
Let's go see my dear ol' mammy
She's fryin' eggs and broilin' hammy
That's what I like about the South
Why there you can make no mistakey
Where your nerves are never shaky
Ought to taste her layer cakey
That's what I like about the South
She's got baked ribs and candied yams
Those sugar cured Virginia hams
Basement full of those berry jams
And that's what I like about the South
She's got hot corn bread and black eyed peas
eat as much as you please
'Cause it's never out of season
That's what I like about the South
She's got backbones and turnip greens
ham hocks and butter beans
You and me and New Orleans
And that's what I like about the South
Don't take one, have two
They're dark brown and chocolate, too
Suits me, they must suit you
'Cause that's what I like about the South"
Man do I love a good Southern breakfast. Pan Fried Ham, Sausage Gravy, Buttermilk Biscuits. Though someone's gotta teach this Yankee how to eat grits. I just smother mine in salt.
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