17 Plates

"Dijja eat?"
That's the most common form of "Hello" I hear here in the South.
Since being here, I've eaten;
Smothered (smoked, grilled, baked) 'coon (raccoon) - It may be the worst tasting meat(?) ever. The people were just offering me some of their dinner - or is it supper - and I didn't wish to be rude. It takes a loaf of bread and a bottle of Tabasco just to get one piece down.
Boudin - Basically, rice in a condom.
Frog Legs - Not terrible. Kind of tastes like chicken.
Alligator Tail - Kind of tastes like frog legs.
Hog Head Cheese - I almost threw-up just thinking about it. Seeing a big pig head in some one's sink isn't really appetizing.
Chitterlings - My parents had jobs - we always had meat. Never the scraps.
Black Bird Gumbo - No not crows - but how would I know?
Fish Head Gumbo - ?
Bologna Gumbo - Huh?
Gumbo Gumbo - People put anything in a pot of roux and call it a gumbo. I just bless my food and say 'thank you" and hope for the best.
Cray Fish (Craw fish, Craw dads) - It's not bad. Some people suck the juice from the heads.
But I've been offered squirrel, neutra-rat and opossum.
Some things were even beyond my faith in the blessing of food.

But every holiday, I get several plates of food delivered to my house from those of whom I've helped-out over the past year.
This Christmas I received 17 platters of food from different families. I have to put names on the plates so that I can return the right plate to the right person.
Holiday Spode, Fiesta Ware, Noritake, Lenox, Wedgwood and so on. My kitchen looks like a sample sale for dinner ware.

When someone asks what I had for dinner on Christmas or New Years (The custom here is to eat black eye peas and cabbage - for luck and prosperity in the coming year) - I have to answer "Everything".