>No, it is not possible. Not anywhere in the
South. (JN)
Why on earth not. I can get cheap oranges in the Northeast. Why not cheese in the South. This must be some sort of perverse cabal against the Yankee North. Think about it: isn't cheese much, much easier to preserve for a lengthy time since, afterall, good cheese is *aged* (KC)
Since I've been here, too, I've heard some anti-Italian rumblings in terms of food, especially, Do Southerners have something against Italians and/or Italian foods. Obviously, it can't be that bad if Frances recommends a place called Giancano's. But really, you can't get good New York city style Italian pizza around here either. (KC)
Snit, done ranting--maybe
It has been almost 20 years since I moved from Wisconsin and I still can't get over what people call cheese in the South. The only way to get decent cheese is at a supermarket in an affluent area or a Whole Fodds type. (JN)
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Speaking of food, I just bought a great little cookbook called, "The Food of Italy", Waverley Root, Vintage, NY:1992. It is a historical survey of Italian food and cooking by region and sub region starting in Tuscany and heading south to Sicily. There are no recipes, but descriptions and you get the idea from those on how to prepare the dishes.
I lived in Iowa City (Unv. of Iowa, thirty years ago) for about a year and struggled mightily to keep myself fed. There was no fruit, no produce, no decent meats, nothing but gawd awful looking junk. But, there were good cheeses (from Wisconsin) and excellent sauages, so I adapted my eating accordingly. I couldn't figure out why the food was so terrible. There was nothing but agriculture outside town for the next three hundred miles in any direction--so what's up I wondered (I now realize it was all industrial bulk feed grains). Chicago, supposedly a giant farmer's market for the midwest was only two hundred or so miles away. At that time, most of the rail systems were still intact. Never did figure it out. The only excuse I could come up with was nobody running a grocery chain could afford to support buyers and transport from Chicago--and still sell for a profit. Super markets and grocery stores run extremely tight margins with way below 5% profit (I think), so price competition is fierce.
More recently about two years ago I was at Penn State, PA for a few weeks and found almost the same problem, thirty years later--except there were some modest improvements--mostly the name brand product lines that catered to the arty bourgeois--like tasteless, stale French roast coffee beans and bad imitation fancy breads--soft, flavorless baguettes, spongy bagels, and such. But this time, I knew how to cook, so I bought mostly whole chickens, beef, and pork roasts and then butchered them down to something resembling regular portions. Also the wines were terrible, and I couldn't find Taylor, which is a New York State produced label that isn't too bad--are they still in business? (Nothing but very over priced and not very good California labels--with that selection I figured it was better to get Gallo). Any way, they did have very bad olive oil, and there were garlic and onions and the usual spices. So, that was enough to at least get through a few weeks. (Hello, fellow olive oil fanatics)
You have to ask yourself with the so-called global economy (collapsing or not), why can't you get decent food in the hinterlands. Besides the obvious increase in expense, there is also the local culture and history. I mean the Midwest never had good food--anybody out there ever eat buckwheat cakes and pork gravy? That's about as good as it gets. But this must be a reflection of who settled the various areas and what they developed locally.
The Bay Area always had Mexicans, then Chinese, and finally Italians, and exploitated or not they all made sure they brought their food with them and then subsequently developed the markets to go with those traditions. So when the Southwest and Midwest got here, they couldn't insist on their tasteless homogenized shit--does good food reflect something about people and history? Perhaps it is just that both are better formed under the accumulated variations of a diverse history. Here is a little piece from the book noted above:
"A certain number of Ravennese dishes are still described as Byzantine, it is true (tartui con pollo alla bizantina, truffles with chicken, Byzantine style), but it is probable that this name is not really a description of the origin of the dish, but simply one of those romantic titles with which misguided restaurant owners like to adorn their menus. This is certainly the case for asparagi in consumato Teodora, filetti di sogliola Teodora, and pollastra all'Esarca, which are simply asparagus in consomme, fillets of sole, and pullet, whose modes of preparation own nothing either to Theodora or the Exarchs."
Well, romantic ascriptions or not, you have to have the history to even dream such exotica up in the first place. Last week, I (completely lacking in history) made a huge skilet of coc'au vin from a whole roasting chicken (better meat) and then took the left over to work with rice to micro wave for several days. The idea was to impress my work buddies who are great cooks--each specializing in their traditions. So Loi (Vietnamese) makes great fancy rice and fish dishs (mostly with Thai sweeten red rice and very hot sauces), Larry (Native American) does fabulous salsas and chilis, and Joe (African American) holds a once a month work BBQ--fresh caught Pacific fish, chicken, pork, beef, and sausages. I am telling you we eat good at work. It may be working class, but by god it is a civilized working class!
Chuck,
in solidarity with the food challanged lives of the American outback--smurk.