As a born and raised South Carolinian, I know first-hand that there are a variety of southern traditions that we pass down through generations. Food centered traditions are an important part of southern life, and it would not be so dear to our mother’s hearts if the food were not considered special, or unique to our region. Grits are a southern staple that you will surely find in any southerner’s home, along with sweet tea and chicken ready to fry. Here in Charleston we love our benne wafers, which are silver dollar sized sesame seed cookies that are crunchy and sweet. Throughout much of the state you are sure to find restaurants that serve “country cooking” and in addition to okra, there is one more traditional southern green that you will find on almost every menu: the collard green. It should come as no surprise that my favorite piece of legislation was passed on June 2, 2011, designating the collard green as the official state vegetable (SC House of Rep., 2013).
Collard greens have always had a place at the southern table, but the history of the leafy green vegetable is worldwide and ancient. Collard greens are the oldest member of the cabbage family and as reported in Whats Cooking America? (2017), the Greeks would grow them. While the ancient Greeks may have been the first to grow the dark green vegetables, we have the African slaves of the American South to thank for conjuring up the tastiest way to consume these nutrient rich vegetables. Today collard greens are cooked much the same way they would have been in the late 1800’s, boiling the leaves with a ham hock in a big pot of water. Collard greens, as with a few other unique southern dishes, are decidedly an acquired, regional taste. However, their history in the South and their recognizably by every true southerner makes them a natural choice for South Carolina’s state vegetable.
According to the State House website, South Carolina ranks second in the nation in collard green production, a little-known fact worth bragging about at any southern dinner table. “Article 9, Chapter 1, Title 1 of the 1976 Code, Section 1-1-681. Collard greens are the official vegetable of the State” is my favorite piece of legislation because it is so uniquely South Carolinian. While it may seem like a frivolous piece of legislation, the roots of the bill are deeply southern, steeped in generations of tradition and kept alive by our grandmother’s cooking, storytelling, and cornbread.
I love this post, Meredith! (I also love collard greens :)) Policies on culture are always so fascinating. Such an educational article, thank you!
Meredith,
I, too, love this post, partly because of the topic and partly for the legislative aspect. I am a southern girl, born and raised and I love collards. I admit that I always thought it was a culture thing as opposed to a southern thing, so you enlightened me. I find the statute of interest because South Carolina has some interesting ones in general. There is one for the state food, state bird, state dance, and I think the state drink as well. One of the most attention catching statutes is that it is legal for a man to beat his wife on the courthouse steps on Sunday. South Carolina definitely has some interesting ways of governing.