A Path Less Travelled – At Least by this Floridian

Guest Blog by Shira Gitomer

For those of you who don’t know, Becky is from Anderson, South Carolina home to a yearly chili cook off and the jockey lot (a well known local mecca of sorts). While some of you may know of it, my guess is most don’t, which would be of no surprise since the population of Anderson is only 25,500 – smaller than most cities I have ever been to yet still larger than the country of Monaco. While I consider myself a cultured individual, travelling around the world since I was five, spending months abroad in China, Australia, and Kenya and even a small Navajo village in Arizona nothing would have truly prepared me for Anderson, South Carolina.

After a mere six hours of highway hell, Becky and I finally arrived in South Carolina. I immediately perked up trying to take in everything I could. Within 5 minutes I was inundated with “Jesus Saves” signs, cigarette smoke, and huge billboards advertising foods I had never heard of. Becky laughed as she explained what boiled peanuts were, sweet potato pie, and the 1,001 things one can do with a peach. Next, we drove by what looked like a enormous butt, fortunately I was mistaken it was a water tower made to look like a huge peach – yeah I know it was a bit odd and reminded me of the world’s largest frying pan in Long Beach, Washington. Apparently I am not the only one that has thought this thing looked like a butt check this website out http://www.pickyourown.org/SCgiantpeach.htm.

After about two hours of observing and commenting on everything we passed, we finally turned off the highway. I was not really sure what to expect at this point, thus far South Carolina had lived up to every stereotype and expectation I had. As we drove down what ended up being one of the main roads in Anderson I saw strip mall after strip mall – which I can’t really comment on considering my home city of Tampa is littered with them. Finally, we pulled off the main road onto the side streets leading to Becky’s mom and step dad’s house. The side streets were a bit rugged at least pavement wise but the houses were cute, all with their own character and what seemed small but as I soon learned were deceptively large.

We finally pulled into Becky’s parents’ driveway and I was ready for a nap. When I woke from my nap we sat down for what I was told was a typical southern meal. I mean, I love food but this was out of control – there was more food on the table then some countries consume in a month. In an effort to grasp the full experience, I held nothing back and dove right in. I started with a pasta chicken dish, cheese biscuits (made from scratch), salad, and ham. Feeling as if my top button was about to burst I took one for the team and re-filled my plate. If I was going to drive all the way to South Carolina I was determined to experience the stereotypical southern cuisine.

The next morning I woke up to a Valentine’s Day gift courtesy of Becky’s mom and a cup of oatmeal at my seat – I was starting to get use to this southern hospitality. The oatmeal had been stewing all night and was topped with sugar, apples, and walnuts. I ate it all and then finished off what Becky had left – this became a pretty common theme throughout the weekend. After breakfast I figured it was time for me to get outside and try and burn off the excessive amount of calories that had entered my body.

As soon as I returned we headed out on the town. Of course our first stop was food – I think South Carolina should rewrite their motto from “while I breathe, I hope” to “while I breathe, I hope to eat as much as I possibly can.” We had lunch at a hometown favorite, Skin’s Hotdogs. After lunch, we visited a number of different local shops each of which Becky’s mom knew and talked to at least one person – oh the joys of insanely small towns. In each of the stores we were greeted the same way “hey y’all, how’re you doin’, let me know if I can help you” – kind of weird to have such friendly people surrounding you with such funny accents. After our outing we returned home to relax a bit before our next eating frenzy.

But just when I thought I would have time to make room for the next meal Becky’s step dad brought home the infamous boiled peanuts. As they were plopped on the table - I observed how others around me were eating them – finally it was my turn. I sucked out the juice before cracking it open and shoveled out the peanuts with my fingers (that was actual my little idea) – Becky made fun of me. They basically taste like wet red beans with salt – I know, I know sounds nasty but actually not that bad.

After a 30 minute rest from the wet beans we sat down for another amazing meal consisting of pork tenderloin, sweet potatoes, mac n cheese (basically just cheese), cabbage, and cheesy/bacon cornbread. The meal was topped off with a delicious homemade upside-down apple pie baked by Becky's mom's friend. Umm do I need to say more?!!

Later that night we ventured into “downtown,” I say this timidly only because it consisted of two blocks of soon to be revitalized buildings and really when I say buildings I mean townhouse looking things – others may describe this as cute or quaint.

We meet up with some of Becky’s friends and ended up at a jazz club in “downtown”. Now this was a pleasant surprise, although I was shocked by the $10 cover – I thought things were cheap in South Carolina but I guess since the club seemed like a transplant they didn’t know better either. We had a good night and were even serenaded by a ridiculous drunk guy that I am pretty sure was missing a tooth or two.

The next morning I rolled out of bed (pretty literally now since I had consumed more food than a person should really eat in a month) and started to get ready for church. That is right – this Jew took the Anderson Methodist church by storm and best yet I pulled of the Christian look pretty well – no one called me out – even though it was obvious I had no idea what was going on. While the service was in English (as opposed to Hebrew like I was used to) I had no idea how to read the hymns and the pastor keep making us stand up and down – rather annoying. The only saving grace was the amazing choir and Becky’s mom sang a duet. Sadly enough this newly inducted southerner couldn’t stop thinking about lunch.

Luckily for me Becky’s mom had lunch ready when we returned home. Just a light meal this time – roast beef, carrots & green beans with bacon, potatoes, brown rice, squash casserole, and rolls. Gosh was I going to miss eating like a queen. I wondered exactly how it was going to be to go back to my life of lean cuisines and McDonald's. Just as I started to get worried Becky’s mom start divvying up the food for us to take home. Yay! Left over for a week – at least.

Just when I thought our adventure was coming to a close, Becky and I got in the car and drove about 30mins to her dad’s. I thought I was already in a remote rural country area but apparently I was mistaken. Only now was I experiencing the rural countryside of Anderson. We drove by tiny houses on huge plots of land, some well kept and others left to be desired. We even passed a house with at least 15 broken down cars in the front yard. Oh and a grocery store called the Piggly-Wiggly – now seriously how could you ever shop there. I could only picture that one day this rural countryside would be “hip” welcoming bars, restaurants, and cafes – but for now this vast rural landscape was only speckled with trash, bad roads, nice people, and what seemed like a simple life whose residents were a bit suspicious of strangers.

You would not even guess what was waiting when we returned home – nothing else but dinner! In an effort to wane me off the exorbitant amount of food I was so accustomed to consuming, Becky’s mom prepared a smaller but just as fulfilling meal of chicken salad sandwiches and potato soup. After dinner we packed up and got ready for our early morning departure.

Anderson, South Carolina was great, Becky’s family and friends showed me what real southern hospitality was and hopefully my Yankee ways didn’t cause any issues. If they did they were too polite to let me know – I guess we will see if I am ever invited back! Most importantly I want to thank everyone (especially Becky) who drove me around, answered all my stupid questions, laughed at the ridiculous nature of my comments, and joined me in having a great time.