Why I will never be a southerner

I like to believe that I am adventerous with food. I at least try something first before declaring my dislike for it...usually.

At work we have a wonderful bellman named Mr. Henry. Mr. Henry is a true southern gentleman. We all love him, he makes us laugh, helps out when is needed and just full of information. He knows where the best fishing spots are, best sea food restaurants, best restaurants in general and is great with directions among other things.

I have learned many things from Mr. Henry. One thing I have learned is to ask what I am eating if he hands me something. Why?

Here is a list of some of his favorite foods...

Pigs ears (I know these as dog treats)
Pigs tails
Pigs Feet
Pigs Head cheese (that's brains for those wondering)
Coon (I think that is Racoon...but I am not sure)
Cow tongue (I did see this in a grocery store in CT though)
Cow Head Cheese
Squirrell (People in West Virginia still eat this, a coworker brought it in one day)
Roadkill (he will only eat it if he was the one to run them over)

This just makes me shudder. I am sure if I was starving and there was nothing else I would eat it. But I definitely would not chose to eat it. I love Mr. Henry even though he eats his weird food and he laughs at my expressions when I ask about it. I know lots of people eat this and I don't look down on them...I guess I eat some weird things that some people wouldn't touch (Escargo, Calamari are the only ones I can think of) as well. His list is just so weird to me. We have sort of bonded over this list. For him, eating this is like me eating spagetti. Completely natural.

I will just add this to another thing that will prevent me from being a true southerner. Not every southerner eats all or any on this list. I am sure depending on which southern state or where you are in a southern state you could find even weirder (to a northern eye) things to eat that are not on this list. I know why they started to eat these parts (little money, no food to waste so they ate everything and it became ingrained so even when they had more money they still ate it).

The differences in what is determined food in different areas is just so weirdly interesting to me.