Flight Savor Fare

A listener asks NPR, How do you know we eat huckleberry pie in North Carolina? http://bit.ly/u5QnFR

NPR’s Karen Grigsby Bates did a piece on a boarding school in Brevard for overweight children called “Wellspring” and commented on the fact that its located “in a part of the country known for its caloric cuisine” such as huckleberry pie. A listener in Durham writes, “I don’t even know what a huckleberry looks like. While this may seem like a quibble, the mention of huckleberry pie perpetuates regional stereotypes, reinforcing images of quaint bumpkins living in Mayberry. We don’t eat huckleberry pie – really.”

Well, really? What’s wrong with eating something local? Why does that make you a quaint bumpkin? It could be the use of the word “huckleberry” which really is a wild blueberry, more or less. According to wikipedia, “I’m your huckleberry” in the 19th century was a way of saying that one is just the right person for a given job. Could be because the rest of the country switched to calling them berries “blueberries” while Appalachia didn’t. And we all know the rep them Appalachians have.

The huckleberry is the state fruit of Idaho. Hmmmmmm…..

I didn’t have an issue with huckleberries, but I did with the rest of the “caloric” cuisine Bates referred to such as “home-churned ice cream” “buttered cornbread.” Flight serves homemade ice cream, but I don’t think that’s on the monthly recipe list for most Southern home cooks.

I think the issue here is that any cuisine can be caloric, but nowadays most Southern cooks have taken those beloved heavy-on-the-cream-and- butter recipes and have made them healthier. Or, we don’t eat them except on special occasions like Christmas.