Bad (good) Bad Southern Food

Southern states have one BIG problem that I can see right off the bat. It's a BIIG problem and It isn't getting fixed quick. Unfortunately its biggest problem is also one of its biggest strengths, which is the food.

There are more fast food spots than I have ever seen anywhere and these are not like ones in Boulder or Seattle, like "Schwarma Vegi King" or something. These are "We are trying to make the biggest fattest hamburger with as much fried pork on it as we can" kind of places.

There are signs like "Super bacon burger comes with a whole deep-fried pig and a deep-fried snickers bar for desert" kind of places. "We don't supersize, that IS our size".And it shows..and shows.

Tennessee is one of the top ten fattest states with a huge portion of morbidly obese people. When we walked into a Chinese Buffet, there was no getting around the fat, I mean fact that people were taking advantage of the ol' "Get what you want but eat what you get". It's almost some sort of conspiracy to wipe out the poor and those with no knowledge of healthy eating habits through heart disease and obesity. We had little choice while staying in a hotel looking for a new house, but to eat in these fine-dining establishments. After my first giant shake it couldn't look at another one, however good it was. My DD and I never wanted to see fried fish again, ever. And even though the best bar-b-que can be found in the South, after one dripping greasy glorious meal, we felt like pigs to market.

We did finally track down sort of soup and salad emporium. Not real busy, as you can imagine, kind of grubby and run down, but salad, yet veggies, glorious veggies finally! Ahhh, my carrot my love....

P.S. Just for the record, the shake in question was a mocha caramel with whip cream and hot fudge. The caramel was warm and kind'a slurped up into your mouth like heaven in a glass. Which was about 12 inches high and not thin. It took a while. A looong while....

P.P.S. On the up side, gyms are the new 20 and they are springing up everywhere