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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That's gotta balance it out!
Don't you just love passing down recipes & traditions?
My daughters can't eat a hush puppy without me telling them the story of how it got it's name, even thought I've told it a hundred times.
At 11 years old, one of them is turning out to be a mighty fine cook...although her twin seems more interested in eating food than preparing it. :)
If you have a proper fryer AND you have your oil at the correct temperature, the chicken does not come up greasy. Also, if you dip the chicken in a beaten egg before you roll it in flour, it's lightly but uniformly coated and doesn't absorb too much oil.
Also you have to have the chicken near room temperature - you can't fry it straight out of the fridge. I guess this is stuff that you have to learn at stove-side or be told, you don't get it out of the cook books . . .
But my favorite meal is still lamb chops grilled with Blackened Steak Magic (no, really, try it - it's perfect), a nice rice pilaf with plenty of butter cooked in, romaine salad with a ranch or poppy seed dressing, and green beans cooked Gujarati style with mustard seeds and garlic. My home made Key Lime Pie (with real key limes) for dessert, or maybe my Scots Trifle.
Pretty eclectic menu, but our family's been in the South since the 1600s, we don't see any need to cook Southern all the time.
Of course, mama-in-law's fried chicken DOES form the centerpiece for a tasty traditional meal. I make rice-and-gravy instead of mashed potatoes, green beans, corn meal spoonbread (a REAL old fashioned southern specialty that I guess is a souffle), lime jello with pear halves (my grandmother's standby), and baked custard (that's creme brulee for you hoity-toity folks) for dessert.
Fry a whole skillet (iron skillet) of bacon. Lay lettuce down in a rectangular baking dish. Chop onions and boiled eggs and scatter across the lettuce. Crumble the bacon on top of that. Pour the hot grease on top of the whole mess. Eat (or not, LOL) That's all I remember because by the time the grease hit the lettuce I was sitting in the back yard.
I don't understand the health crisis from eating in the South. I'm 50 and have been eating Southern food all my life. My blood pressure is 120/72, my cholesterol is medium at 165 and I'm not overweight (5'6" & 130lbs). I'm active though. I personally think that is the key. Eat what you want but stay active.
You Northerners can keep your bagels too. I tried one once and it was like eating a rubber donut with no taste. LOL Not a big seller around here.
But there's nothing to compare with a Maine lobster - although crawfish are handier, you have to eat a lot of them . . .
.....Westy.....
It looks like soy bean plants. I think "rape" in Canada means "soy bean". Sorta like maize vs corn.
When did that abortion get appended to the old name?
Whoever came up with that should be drawn and quartered, then hanged then shot.
Nothing transforms a good institution faster into something totally useless and unacceptable than the ability to set rules of conduct for others...
I looked it up. Your right, it isn't soy beans.
Bump to that. Damn Yankees already took my country...now they want to take my deep fryer. The South will fry again!
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.
I need to meet a girl like that...
Thank you for solving one of life's trickier mysteries.
Problem is free healthcare benefits/entitlements. If the government pays your bill, they have a say in your lifestyle. Eliminate Medicare, Medicare Prescription benefits, guaranteed treatment at ER's regardless of the ability to pay, etc., and then you will be free to do what you want. Same with helmet laws, etc..
What made it even harder was that I had to come within one block of a Krispy Kreme store....I really wanted to eat more, but luckily I had my dog with me & she talked me out of it.
And you know those pies were made with Crisco or Lard crust.
Super Varsity Bump
What'll ya have?
My Grandmother churned her own buttermilk, served ice cold
with chunks of country butter still in it with a big hunk
of her coconut cake was heaven on Earth when I was a kid.
They (Grandparents) also had a smokehouse which always had
a ham or shoulder hanging that she was slicing from. there was a butcher knife in the smokehouse so we could go in there and cut off a slice at any time. Most of the time it was eaten as soon as it was sliced,raw.
It needs some jalapeños on top.
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