ABSTRACT
In the same way that the South is a synthetic culture composed of overlapping immigrant populations that have over time developed into a recognizable social group, southern food is a synthetic cuisine composed of ingredients and techniques that have developed over time through the transatlantic transfer of foods and cooking methods. Southern food combines foods indigenous to the Southeast with foods that have been naturalized to the region. By the time the United States became a nation, the South had already begun to develop a recognizable cuisine. Visitors to the region described the flavors, rituals, preparations, and the racial codes of southern food. Foods are the items people consume for their flavor or nutritional value, and foodways are the social, cultural, economic, religious, historical, and traditional practices involved with the production and consumption of the food. The most significant change in southern foodways after World War II was the emergence of southern fast food.
