Southern Cooking Has It's Roots In Trade

How The Trade Routes Of Old Influenced Deep South American Cooking

When we travel across America's 'deep south,' we are often struck by the variety of what is known as southern style cooking. There is so much variety that it is sometimes difficult to pin the title on any one food, or recipe, or style.

The explanation of this is easier to understand when you take a look at the influx of cultures to explore and settle in America's south. Native tribes intermingled with people from England, Spain, and France, and a culinary culture was born.

The European settlers brought along with them on their trade ships livestock including cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, and pigs. Along with the livestock, trade ships brought apples, root crops, cabbage, and an assortment of fermented beverages, including wine, brandy, and ale or beer. But, just as the trade ships were bringing foods from far away lands to the native people, the native people were introducing the European people to the local fare, as well.

As the settlers and natives started to adapt and explore their own unique foods in the southern part of what was to become the United States of America, Spanish explorers were also busy setting up camps in the Caribbean islands. Here they learned other styles of cooking, most notably "barbacoa" which was a way to slowly smoke meats to preserve and cook them. These Spanish explorers introduced the deep south to this style of cooking which would become synonymous with Southern cooking – the barbecue.

Wealthier European settlers used open fire cooking with individual foods being cooked in separate pots; a luxury they brought with them from Europe. However, the poorer class often had one pot to cook in, which most believe would explain the origin of gumbo, jambalaya, and other one pot meals so prevalent in the South even today.

Without refrigeration, and with the extreme heat of the southern regions, meats were smoked or salted as the only way to put food aside. Once a household had a supply of smoked meat on hand, the challenge was to create meals using what they had for meat and what they could pick or dig out of the ground. Fruits and vegetables that were in season created the base for many dishes, again explaining the creation of the types of one pot meals we see throughout the South.

Fish and other seafood was plentiful along much of the Southern regions, either in the multitude of rivers, lakes, and bayous, or along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Small and large game was also plentiful in the deep woods of much of the South. Of course, the European settlers soon learned how to use these natural food sources and other readily available foods in season, and a mix of fresh and preserved foods became the basis for much of what we know as 'Deep South Cuisine.'

Along with the blending of foods and cooking methods, came a change in the dining habits of the settlers. With such hot, humid days in much of the South, it became necessary to start work early right after a large breakfast, then a lighter meal would be served midday, with another light meal during the evening hours, and finally a snack before bed of leftovers from the day.

Of course, that schedule would be for the working families. Wealthy families would have a late breakfast, followed by a light snack at midday, then a heavier meal late into the evening, which would often be a long drawn out affair for socializing as much as eating.

The trade routes from Europe to the "New World" of the American South brought influences that greatly changed the culinary and cultural landscape. In this case we can definitely see how "necessity is the mother of invention" as people adjusted to new surroundings, and all the region had to offer.