The Southern Grocery Store

A grocery store in the South is basically the same as the ones we have out west, but they have some interesting items in them. Here are a couple of the more interesting items I've stumbled across:

"Ham Bits" & other unrefrigerated pork parts - Both the Piggly Wiggly and Super Walmart have a rack near the meat section filled with strange pork parts. "Ham Bits" and "Pork Ends" sit out in vacuum packing at room temperature, daring the Steve-O's of the world to eat them. I've been told the ham bits are used for flavoring, and may have come across some in a dish of green beans the other night. Think flavorless bacon.

Chitterlings - Pig intestines. Enough said.

Pork Rinds - Of course, these aren't unique to the South, but they are a lot more prominent here. I'd never actually had one before so I picked up a 50 cent bag to give it a try. The best description I can give is salty packing foam. I won't be trying these again.

Livers & Gizzards - Back home, this stuff goes in the trash or in thrown in a pot for the dogs if Grandma feels particularly ambitious while cooking thanksgiving dinner. You can not only buy them in the store here, but you can actually walk into a diner and order up a plate of them. I wasn't 100% sure what a gizzard was, so I went to Wikipedia. Sounds tame enough...an organ used to aid in digestion. Then I saw this picture. Puke.

Smoked Turkey Necks - Not just a sack of smoked turkey necks, but a family size sack of smoked turkey necks. I don't think the necks even make it into the dog's thanksgiving stew. How do they eat these things? I imagine some cow of a woman gnawing on a turkey neck while her 8 filthy kids run around the house raising hell.

Fat Kelly sez "Turkey necks go good with a tub of sour cream!"