Saturday, March 7, 2009

Southerners eat the strangest things...

Growing up in Louisiana, I never realized that many of my favorite foods would be considered "weird" or even "gross" to people that lived in other parts of the country. It wasn't until I became close friends with a couple of Yankees that I realized our culinary gems weren't so widely accepted by the general population. I keep telling my girlfriends that they don't know what they're missing, but I haven't been able to convince them to try my beloved boudin, fried duck, crawfish, or shrimp and grits. Fortunately for me, festivals seem to cater to the Southerner's love of crazy foods. At last weekend's strawberry festival, the most gossiped about concoction was chocolate dipped bacon.

Yes, you read that right. Salty smoky bacon dipped in lusciously sweet milk chocolate.

First of all, let me just say how much I love this sign. The little pig himself is dripping with chocolate, urging you to try his special treat. At first, I thought "Chocolate dipped bacon? Now that's taking it a little too far." But, we Southerners will eat anything...just to say we did.


If chocolate dipped bacon isn't your thing, you can experience the Southern diet by eating something fried. Personally, I love to fry fresh veggies. I'm sure this process strips the veggies of their nutritional content, but it's delicious so I really don't care. At festivals, you can get ANYTHING fried, from candy bars to Twinkies to Oreo cookies. Hubby couldn't resist the deep fried Pepsi.


And while funnel cakes are a classic festival favorite, have you ever seen this many variations?


I know I should really try to eat healthier, but yogurt and granola just isn't nearly as satisfying as fried dill pickles dipped in ranch dressing. My daddy really says it best when he explains that he will continue to eat this way because "our ancestors did and they were perfectly healthy and lived long lives". I say amen to that :)

10 confessions:

pve design said...

I made "Fried Chicken" for my neighbors with mashed taters and beans. They loved it!

KK said...

So how did the chocolate dipped bacon taste?! And please elaborate on the fried pepsi--I'm dying to know!

Her Preppiness said...

Sounds yummy!!

Jules said...

Wow! Those are some crazy combinations, but I'm open to trying new things ;) How was the chocolate dipped bacon and I must hear about the fried pepsi? How would you even be able to do that?

That festival really looks like it was fun!

Lacey said...

The chocolate dipped bacon wasn't too bad. However, it was the last thing we tried and we had been stuffing ourselves all day in the hot sun, so we started feeling a little queasy afterward. It was fun to try but definitely not on my list of things to eat again :)

The fried pepsi was made using a funnel cake-like dough that was made with pepsi then frozen and fried. It basically tasted like a pepsi flavored funnel cake...a bit strange but good!

Piper Jacquelyn said...

How does one "deep fry Pepsi?" I am intrigued! I love fried things though. I had some dark chocolate the other day that had bacon in it as well & must say that it was delish!

TexanCouture said...

Zico is available at Whole Foods are any health food place, it's all natural so any granola type store should have it :)

Anonymous said...

i'm sorry, chocolate dipped bacon sounds like heaven on earth

Summer Athena said...

omg! love it - choco bacon!

Gwen said...

Oh my goodness!!!! I love funnel cake but I don't think I could ever stomach chocolate dipped bacon. :) {HUGS}