Have you ever eaten fat back?
Do you have any idea what fat back is? We didn’t, until we visited Roger’s Barbecue and Seafood Buffet in Florence, South Carolina.
For only $10 per person, we sampled a wide variety of Southern fare, including barbecue chicken and pork, fried seafood, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, sweet tea, banana pudding and countless other mostly fried dishes that we’d never seen before. When the waitress came to replenish the buffet, I asked her what one particular dish was. “Pork rinds”. “What about this?” “Fat back”. “What about that?”. Before she told me, she tilted her head to the side, looked at me a bit suspiciously and said, “Where are you from?” Ok, so we’re not Southerners. But fat back, we have learned, is a cut of pork that is similar to bacon. Fried, of course.
Another thing I can’t figure out about the South is why the locals have such strong accents. Where did that come from? And why do New Yorkers and New Englanders have their own unique sounds, but folks from other states like Montana and Oregon don’t seem to have any identifying linguistic features? In America, you can find someone speaking every language known to man, plus at least 50 different ways to speak English!
Anyway, this was our first visit to Charleston, South Carolina, and we found it to be one of the most beautiful cities in our country. There’s not really a skyline of tall buildings, but rows of impeccable mansions and impressive buildings. The city is remarkably clean and well-kept. Thanks to the area’s temperate climate, Palmetto trees are abundant.
We strolled through a terrific market and found some beautiful sweet grass baskets. These coiled baskets appeared in South Carolina during the late 17th century, thanks to the knowledge of slaves brought from West Africa. We bought a small basket from this artist.
The city is also very historical. We gained a different perspective by visiting the Slave Market Museum. It was a sobering reminder that many of the buildings we admired were built and maintained by slaves.
For another look at historical Charleston, we visited the Boone Hall plantation, one of America’s oldest working plantations. Crops have grown continuously here for over 320 years. In the early years, cotton and pecans were grown; now peaches, tomatoes, pumpkins and other produce are grown. Visitors are greeted by a magnificent Avenue of the Oaks — over one hundred mammoth oak trees line the road:
The original slave cabins are still on the property:
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We traveled along route 17 and interstates 26 and 95, and we stopped at Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Palmetto trees are all over Charleston. I’m not sure why they’re called Palmetto — they look just like Palm trees to me. They’re very sturdy and were used during the Revolutionary war to build a fort used to defend Charleston and defeat the British fleet there.
We wanted to learn how to dance the Charleston in Charleston, so I contacted a couple of local dance studios to arrange a lesson. Alas, they were closed for Thanksgiving weekend, so we missed our chance. The kids were so disappointed. So if any of you know how to dance the toe-tapping, knee-knocking combo, give me a call so we can cut a rug. I’ll even bring some fat back.
21. South Carolina
Palmetto trees and Aiken house