Dying to know where you are now! I have been enchanted by Southern cuisine since we landed up in way up north in upstate SC. Have so so many old cookbooks in the local thrift shops.
Southern cuisine is one of the finest in America and very popular around the world if The Guardian Food columns are anything to go by. I was in Walmart buying towels the day before Thanksgiving and was fascinated watching black folks loading up on chit’lins, smoked hams, country ham and one woman who had tons of bananas on the counter along with endless boxes of Nilla Wafers and vats of vanilla extract. We speculated that she either was having a Thanksgiving family reunion or was making banana pudding for church. In either case, I was impressed with her authentic ingredients rather than the nasty boxed pudding so many and restaurants people use.