SC - Grits 'n all that stuff

[snowfire at mail.snet.net]

- -Poster: Jean Holtom <Snowfire at mail.snet.net>
 
>> the North has been unable to
>> discover the wonderful way the South savors certain food items.

>Ummm...hmmm, how to proceed here?

With applomb m'lord. ;)
 
>Surely there has been some exchange of cultures since the Unfortunate
>Misunderstanding, which is certainly a good thing, but if I'm Southern
>lands it wouldn't strike me that the first thing I need to eat is New
>England chowder, and if it did, I probably wouldn't be _too_ surprised
>if my expectations weren't adequately met.

>I'm reminded of various accounts by Victorian English travellers who
>came back from places like India, complaining that there was nothing but
>"foreign" food the entire trip, and giving the lack of proper
>bubble-and-squeak (or whatever) as further evidence of these foreigners'
>lack of civilization... .

I'm reminded of a pub we stopped at in the middle of Salisbury Plain that had an 
authentic "made from scratch" Mexican menu.  But, they didn't use Masa Farina in 
the tortillas.  I lived in West Texas for a few years, so I had a tantrum (not 
really)!  - at least they had tortillas!  In Wales we tend to put everything 
between two slices of bread! (Potato chips, french fries...).   

It brings up another question I'd been meaning to ask the list however.  I'd 
learned (eons ago) that the word "trencher" originally was supposedly used for a 
piece of thick hard bread that the meat was served on.  One ate "the plate" as well 
as what was on it. As time went on it became an actual plate (wood, pewter, 
whatever).

In Britain we have a habit of putting all manner of things "on toast" that 
Americans might think odd. (e.g. (canned) spaghetti on toast, scrambled egg on 
toast, baked beans on toast, sardines on toast, cheese on toast (not so odd?)) - 
you can even buy "toast toppers" in the supermarket - "chicken", "ham" etc. 
I'm wondering if this came from the trencher tradition?  

Any ideas?   

Elysant  
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