Southerners' All-Time Favorite Snack Calls For a Bag of Peanuts and Bottle of Coca-Cola

Southern Living ^ | 5/11/22 | Kaitlyn Yarborough

[rintintin]

People can make fun of us all they want about the unusual food combinations that Southerners grow up eating and never stop loving. A peanut butter-and-mayonnaise sandwich? Pass the chips. Pineapple-and-cheese casserole? We'll take seconds. Salt on watermelon? Duh. However, the most classic combination barely needs an introduction: peanuts and Coca-Cola. These two very different items, in fact, are not just a snack and refreshment to be enjoyed separately at the same time, but a dynamic duo to be guzzled straight out of a cold glass bottle. Together.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Pork Rinds!

[The Mayor]

I like pork rinds

[Bloodandgravy]

I thought it was pepsi, not coke.

[decal]

Dr Pepper is, of course, better.

[TexasGator]

“I thought it was pepsi, not coke.”

Coke

[Dr. Sivana]

I lived in Columbus, Georgia for four years, and had plenty of local friends in the Republican Party there with whom I spent time, and went to many social events.

Despite the fact that both Coca-Cola and peanuts are associated with Georgia, the combination of peanuts and Coke were served no more often there than anywhere else.

Fun facts: Columbus, GA stakes a claim as to the birthplace of Coca Cola’s formula X9. RC Cola was also first created in Columbus, GA, though the corner is only marked with a plaque.

If you are in Georgia in November, skip the peanuts, and go to a neighborhood Ace Hardware Store to pick up fresh shelled pecans . . . the best! If you drive to Macon from Columbus, you will see untold rows of pecan trees right along the side of the main road.

[GaryCrow]

I think the first iteration was peanuts in RC Cola. When my grandparents were growing up in rural Mississippi during the depression most everyone drank RC Cola, not Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola was too expensive, poor farm kids couldn’t afford it. I remember them talking about walking to the store and getting an RC Cola & a Moon Pie for 5 cents. Eventually as people got wealthier Coke became more popular than RC Cola, but in the 1910-1930 timeframe Coke was the drink of rich city dwellers and the poor farm folks drank RC.

[Dr. Sivana]

I thought it was pepsi, not coke. !?!

Even the Pepsi is called Coke in the South. A few years ago Pepsi tried to make a case for being a southern drink, as it was first formulated in North Carolina. That won't fly in Georgia as being more southern than Coke. It also came out decades later and has been using coastal liberal ad campaigns for 50 years ("The Pepsi Generation", ads with Geraldine Ferraro, etc.) Not that Coke is presently the picture of tradition, but an appeal to Pepsi's "southern heritage" was a weak play.

Most carbonated drinks since Schweppes seltszer and Ginger Ale were first formulated in the South (e.g. Dr. Pepper famously from Texas), with Moxie (Maine) being a notable exception.

[mylife]

maybe a lil nanner puddin...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9NLgyEFzOo

[Jamestown1630]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loamVbAOsPo

[Paal Gulli]

No, no, NO! The peanuts (runners, still in the shell) go in a pot of very salty boiling water for a couple of hours. That is the most Southern way to snack on peanuts.

Two Southern delicacies you're never likely to develop a taste for if you didn't grow up eating them, boiled peanuts and grits.

[lightman]

Dr. Pepper and a Moon Pie.

[mylife]

bald peanuts suck

[smokingfrog]

RC cola

[peggybac]

Definitely boiled peanuts. And, I could eat grits daily!

[toddausauras]

Gotta say that works for me. Maybe even Dr. Pepper and pretzels. I gotta drink a glass of water even thinking about that.

[lightman]

Grits with honey and butter....yuuum!

[Jamestown1630]

I grew up on grits. They’re great. I like them with lots of butter and pepper.

But I had lousy boiled peanuts once that someone brought back from a trip.

Just No!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM0DXaRZL1Y

[Pilgrim's Progress]

I remember when I was a kid we would buy a ten cent bottle of Coca Cola and a 5 cent bag of Planters salted peanuts and pour the nuts into our bottle of soda. Mmmm!