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My understanding of soul food is that it is a subset of Southern cooking that grew out of the dishes developed by the slaves to make do with the "unwanted" foods and cuts of meat that were left for them (my mother is of Norwegian and African-American descent, and this is what she always told me). Thus, soul food includes things like black-eyed peas, ham hocks and collard or dandelion greens, chittlins/chitterlings, and yams or sweet potatoes (especially when they're used as sweeteners, as in pie). Given that the provenance of slavery was the American South, these dishes have since become incorporated into the canon of Southern food and eaten by all kinds of people (including my very mixed family). And that is, I think, a beautiful thing.

I am surprised that only @Divadog mentioned banana pudding - my, my, how well I remember my first taste in South Carolina - would love a real recipe - up here in Canada one can get banana cream pie, but it cannot touch southern banana pudding.

Also, hush puppies, not the mass produced ones, but the lovely crispy, fluffy ones produced in small restaurants - bliss.

Frogmore stew or Brunswick stew - I have seen it called both, but I have reproduced it in Canada to rave reviews - I had to buy my Old Bay seasoning stateside, though I believe if you shop around in specialty stores you can find it now.

Deep fried okra, biscuits, shrimp & grits - need I go on - our vacations in the South necessitate a great deal of restraint.

I have mentioned before how lucky people in the South are, to have both sweet and non sweet ice tea available at almost every restaurant you enter. There is absolutely nothing nicer than to walk in from the torpid heat and humidity and have a large, cold glass of tea!

Hands down, my favorite cookbook of all time is Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. It is brilliant, completely useful in everyday life and with one single exeption (the pear cake thing) every thing I've made from it has come out great. And I've made almost everything in it over the years. It is what I give new brides. It is what I give the young people I know who are starting out on their own.

Kenny Shopsin's Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, hands down. Really changed how I think about cooking.

I miss "Microwave Master" with Donovan Jon Fandre, "Capril's Kitchen" with Caprile Pence, "Cooking Monday Through Friday" with Michelle Urvater and "Sunshine Cuisine" with Jean-Pierre Brehier.

As far as the worst, I would rather watch the chef on "The Muppet Show" than Alton Brown. David Rosengarten was so much more professional and didn't rely on forced humor.

to yayajac: an article i just read said they are assuming the contamination happened after the nuts had already became peanut butter/paste, since the roasting process of the nuts would heat them to a high enough temperature to kill the bacteria

i'm not worried about any jarred peanut butter, just peanut butter-containing products.. i'm holding off on eating any products i have to see what companies continue to announce recalls

ironically enough, a few days before the recalls, i had just ordered several bags of Bear Naked Peanut Butter granola from their website.. so far so good though, they haven't made any recalls, hope it stays that way

*raising hand* slightly off-topic, but how many folks keep their pb in the fridge? My husband's great-grandmother did this, but it just seems weird to me.

Ok, so this Upstater has very little experience with southern food. I think I'd like real fried chicken, but I've never really had it- at least not the kind someone cooked in fat in a cast iron skillet. I guess I've tasted greens once or twice, and I prefer my mac and cheese creamy, not baked.

See, what I've been doing all along is making sure there's enough for all you guys (y'all???) to enjoy :)

At the top of my list has got to be biscuits. Nobody makes biscuits like the South. There's also sweet potato casserole, mac & cheese, cornbread, pecan pie, peach cobbler, red velvet cake, and fried pickles. And although I now live in Tennessee, I was born & raised in North Carolina, so Carolina barbecue of course!

As someone born and raised in Hawaii, in my travels, I have grown to love fried okra, fried dill pickles, collard greens, Brunswick stew (over rice :P), chow chow, fried green tomatoes, and fried chicken washed down with sweet tea. I love sweet potato and peach pies, red velvet cake, bread pudding, and eating warm pralines from a paper bag, which brings me to the slew of Cajun and Creole dishes I love.

One of these days, I have to try the southern version of oxtail soup, just to see how different it is from the oxtail soup from my neck of the woods.

I've got a jar of sorghum molasses I picked up on my last trip to TN this summer that is begging to be opened.

West Indies Salad from my home town of Mobile, AL. Easily one of the most luxurious delicacies on earth.

have to say,I love your site, keeps me in the know on what is happening in the northeast burgerdom

@gerald: I don't see the deconstruction on that site. Are you sure it's there? What is the direct link to it?