As students were researching their assigned region of the United States and deciding what recipes to cook from that region, my "Southern" team called me over. "We need some help deciding on a main entree. Everything takes too long!" "Well, have you thought of doing a catfish fry? It's a great entree and it's a quick preparation." Then it occurred to me that I was talking to a kid who, as an individual who'd never left her Midwest state of origin, believes that an exotic fish was tilapia. "Do they eat catfish in the south?" All of the sudden, my body began to tremble inwardly, I felt the surge of my mother and grandmother's influence and my upbringing. I couldn't stop it - no one could have. "Oh, you poor baby! Bless your heart," I sang in a southern twang. "Every good Texan knows that you got to go to a fish fry every Sunday for cold fish and hot beer!" Ouch. Just ouch.
