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Joe's Stone Crabs, Miami Beach - Stone Crab Claws

Shealy's BBQ, Leesville, SC - Carolina Gold BBQ and Liver Nips ( Newberry SC has an Octoberfest Liver Nip Cook off )

Nuway Grill, Spartanburg, SC - Redneck Burger ( Pimento Chili Cheese )

Ike's Grill, Spartanburg, SC - Fried Bologna Sandwich

Roger's BBQ, Florence, SC - BBQ Liver Hash With Red Gravy ( nothing like it )

Brown Hotel, Louisville, Ky - Kentucky Hot Brown

Hominy Grill, Charleston, SC - The Big Nasty ( Gravy Fried Chicken Biscuit )

Blue Marlin, Columbia,SC - Shrimp and Grits

Grits and Groceries, Belton, SC - Tomato Pie

Tupalo Honey, Asheville, NC - Sweet Potato Pancakes

S&S Caferteria, Greenville, SC - Sweet Potato Balls

Bowen's Island, Folly Beach, SC - Beaufort Stew ( aka Low Country Boil, Frogmore Stew )

Summerton Diner, Summerton, SC - Chicken Bog ( aka Red Chicken Stew )

Brunswick Diner, Brunswick, Ga. - Brunswick Stew

Beacon Restaurant, Spartanburg, SC - Santee Cat Dog, The Outside BBQ Sandwich and The Pig's Dinner

Gullah House, Mt. Pleasant, SC - Neckbones, Ox Tails, and Fried Chicken Feet

Cosmic Dog, Mt Pleasant, SC - Blue Cheese Slaw Dog

Vegetable Medley, West Columbia, SC - Fried Cornbread and Collards

Fuller's, Lumberton, NC - Native American BBQ and Flat Bread

Joe's Stone Crabs - best I've had in my life so far

When I was a kid growing up on a farm in South Carolina we would have a huge Sunday dinner ( lunch ) including fried chicken and many veggies. After we finished my mother would leave the food on the table and drape it with a cloth and there it would sit until supper time. In those days we thought nothing of eating food left sitting out and refrigerators wouldn't have held it all anyway. I still like room temp fried chicken.

Zag-nut candy bars bring back wonderful memories of cowboy double features at the movies on Saturdays. I still crave them but they're getting harder to find.

ham, cheese and pineapple

Candy coated Boston Baked beans ( peanuts ). I have been addicted to these little critters my entire life. Yesterday on my way back to Columbia I bought some at South of The Border and ate so many I felt sick.

One pack costs $.59 while two costs $.99 so I always end up eating two packs.

I grew up with a girl who's last name was Corn. Dang if she didn't marry a Mr. Cobb.

In 1961 we were doing "The Twist" by Chubby Checker also the Fly, Watusi and Locomotion. The Limbo was popular and the game Twister was in vogue. Mellon balls spiked with vodka served in a jagged edge watermelon was a biggie. A punch bowl of PJ or a ice tub of PBR's were college favorites in those days.

As for dress we wore Bass Weejuns without socks and anything made of madras. Girls wore their hair in beehives or bells and guys wore crew cuts or flat tops. The side she wore her circle pin on meant something or at least us guys thought it did.

Go to the world famous Beacon in Spartanburg S.C. and order "a pie heated with" - In Beconese that's a fried apple pie heated, slapped with a 4 inch paintbrush full of butter and topped with vanilla ice cream.

If you're brave and go there with a group try the "Pig's Dinner" - which is a banana split in a punch bowl.

Salt is often used to repel evil spirits. Spirits of the dead are about decay and salt preserves.

I was enjoying the English Country breakfasts especially the black pudding until I discovered that black pudding was a just a nice word for blood pudding.

I approach this topic differently as the ethnicity of my family's cousine has little to do with their Scotch-Irish heritage. My ancestors have all lived in the Carolinas since the 1700's and we know little more than southern cooking. Soda bread, corn beef and cabbage, oatmeal or haggis never graced my parent's table.

S.C. was this country's major rice producer for many years and the influence of that low country rice is still heavy in my family's diet. Charlestonians can hardly go a day without "red rice" which is similar to Spanish rice. While they love their red beans and rice in NOLA, Carolinians tend to eat more butterbeans and rice. Stewed tomatoes over rice is also popular but chicken bog or chicken perleau ( rice and chicken are the main ingredients ) has almost become our state dish. All barbecue joints in S.C. make wonderful pork hash which can only be enjoyed on top of rice . As a kid we had rice and gravy every Sunday and the left over rice from dinner ( lunch ) was converted into rice pudding for supper. If any rice made it til the next morning my dad would eat it with milk and sugar. A writer once wrote that South Carolinians are a lot like the ancient Chinese as "they eat lots of rice and worship their ancestors".

I have always thought that if your mother was a good cook and you grew up eating her food you tend to always prefer the type of food she prepared and the way she prepared it. Am I correct?