Tuesday, February 26

 
Down-home food gets a nutritional makeover

It was inevitable, I guess, that Southern-style down-home cooking, "soul food," would eventually become chic and, having become chic, would get made over to dispose of nasties like saturated fat, calories and taste. Okay, I agree - cooking in bacon drippings and using ham hocks for flavor can lead to nutritional nightmares. I just hope the "new Southern" foods replacing them can capture the heartwarming, feel-good tastes of traditional soul food. Will macaroni and cheese (the homemade kind, not the orange stuff from the box) taste as good with low-fat cheese? Or do we just eat less of it and go for a walk afterwards? This story from the Baltimore Sun talks to chefs who have opened soul-food restaurants in the area as well as to people who are manufacturing food ingredients to capture this new interest.
posted by Unknown 8:28 AM