Piggin' Out!

At a local cafe in Texas, the specialty is CFS, or Chicken Fried Steak.  And other Southern faves, such as gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, french fries and home-made biscuits.  Interviewed customers rave about the food.  Some of those customers are larger than busses, and still grin and speak with a measure of pride at having eaten at that establishment all their lives.  These foods are your stereotypical "comfort foods": They remind you of childhood, and they are so lopsided to simple carbohydrates and fats, that they induce a soporific effect upon the diner, who thus emerges from the restaurant stuffed, groggy, in a stupor, with a stomach too full for comfort (there's irony for you!).  The owner being interviewed explains the difference between his gravy and the "traditional" gravy, emphasizing that his gravy begins with a roux and then has cream added to it.  Traditional gravy, as we all know, merely contains the pedestrian milk added to it.  Still, the basic recipe is the same: Fat from bacon or sausage, into which is mixed in some flour to make the roux, then add milk, or cream as in this case.  Do I hear heart attack, anyone?  And the customers of that establishment swear that the only way to eat that Chicken Fried Steak is "smothered in gravy."

What is chicken fried steak? It is a piece of steak pounded into a thin slice, then dredged in a flour mixture similar to the kind used for fried chicken.  The whole thing is then deep fried.  Hence the name.  Would you like that with a side of coronary?

I'm sure I'm stepping on some toes out there.  To be fair, I have eaten my share of, a'hem, "bad" food.  I've gorged on carbohydrates, and fallen asleep contentedly after a gluttonous meal.  I remember once when I was a teenager devouring five double-sliced sandwiches at one sitting!  I kid you not.  I've been caught with guilty crumbs on my shirt when I spent some time eating Twinkies and cupcakes while hiding under a tree.  And I still crave the creamy feel of ice cream on my tongue.  But for the life of me, the mere thought of gravy and how it's prepared turns my stomach.  Why would anyone douse his or her food with this greasy concoction?  In fact, how did gravy come about?  Why would anyone use fat from bacon to make a beige paste to slather all over one's food?

I'll take it a step further.  How did the "South" become so enamored of these so-called comfort foods?