Hello, Home Fries!

Once again, Matea and I are flying south for the winter. After a quick trip to a mountain cabin with my immediate family, we will head to Greenwood to engage in non-stop Thanksgiving feasting with the rest. As a 5-year vegetarian, these days I don’t partake in the ubiquitous turkey, ham, fatback-seasoned green beans, and giblet gravy (although Matea has developed excellent substitutes). My family has been gracious in preparing the dressing with veggie broth and the beans with fake pork seasoning, and I think they find it somewhat novel to be eating a delicious vegetarianized dish.

Despite the accommodation my diet necessitates, I won’t miss out on the entire southern dining experience while there. Grits, biscuits and peppermill gravy, fried squash, fried okra, hush puppies, cole slaw, boiled peanuts, macaroni pie, pecan pie, and, of course, sweet tea, will be in abundance. There will be an extra-large helping of grannies, cousins, aunts and uncles on the side, also, strangely, covered in gravy. Yes, I will be lucky to have an esophagus upon my return to Vermont, due to all the inevitable acid reflux I anticipate having. But that’s what the holidays are all about, an intense burning in your chest signifying both good and bad.