Food ignorance of this Southern boy

Looking back many years it is amazing what this southern boy did not know at 17 yrs of age. I had heard of 'Pizza Pie' but I had never seen nor tasted one until I was nearly 17. At the time I think the only pizzas were plain or pepperoni.  Okay I might have heard of pepperoni, but I had never seen nor tasted it so we had the plain cheese pizza. So, if you like tomato, bread and cheese, you gotta like Pizza, so we did.

My mama was s great cook. I thought she had cooked everything. Well I must admit when I joined the USMC and started eating in the Mess hall This guy learned a lot. First off, all one day they served me some little bitty heads of cabbage. My mama would have been embarrassed that anyone would cut them before they got grown. They wouldn't bad, but not as good as full grown cabbage and cabbage juice. I grew up eating biscuits soaked in the cabbage juice as I ate the cabbage. Okay I learned later they are called Brussel sprouts (I still don't know if they are little cabbages or not).

Oh yeah, you gotta be careful with the olives, some of them dudes got seeds and will break your teeth, if you aren't careful. At 17 I had never seen an olive with the pit still inside. I don't think there was ever an olive in our house.

Speaking of Olives. Our church believed strongly in divine healing and dad prayed for the sick, and at the same time he 'anointed them' (Usually a small dab on the forehead).  I must say here, that I did see at least one REAL miracle in my childhood time. But, but I had no idea that folks 'cooked' with olive oil until many years after my 17th Birthday. I 'ignorantly' thought the only use for olive oil was to anoint the sick. Yeah, I was  really thick. 

I had never heard of nor seen 'Asparagus spears nor rhubarb'.

 We ate bell peppers, but they were never cooked. So imagine my surprise when I was served a big bell pepper with something on the inside.  I asked the cook, "What is it?"  Without a pause he said, "$h-t in a Seabag".  It was good, but of course it was hamburger and rice in the green pepper.  I had already learned what "SOS" was, I had never eaten it for breakfast either. I am sure everyone knows that is "$h-t on a Shingle".

I learned later that the boys from the cities had been educated growing up because of the different nationalities and cultures they grew up around. Down south it was only Black and White.  Our food preferences were practically the same.

There was one oddity that I saw in the mess hall, I never knew corn was picked so small. I saw on the serving line little 1" & 2" corn on the cob. Now if they have a name, I am 77 yrs old and still do not know it. In that case I guess I am dumb for life.  I just axed my girl and she doesn't know either.

 Nite Shipslog

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The BIG TANKS of the 1950's