Christmas in Mississippi
We meandered our way from the headwaters of the Mississippi River here in Minnesota all the way down to its end in the state of Mississippi. It is a state famous for their Southern food, great music, as well as being thee birthplace of root beer (Edward Barq in 1898), Elvis, and John Grisham. We honored all three with sipping root beer cocktails, listening to Elvis’ Christmas album, and reading John Grisham’s “Skipping Christmas”.
We also recognized Mississippi’s place as the poorest state in the country with a donation to a local Mississippi charity. And in recognition that Jackson is one of only four sanctioned sites for the International Ballet Competition, we did a tie in to “The Nutcracker” ballet.
Picking foods to feature for Mississippi was incredibly hard. We ultimately opted to go big and risk deep frying a turkey as the centerpiece of our Christmas dinner instead of opting for catfish (Mississippi ranks #1 in catfish with 65% of the country’s supply). However, we still honored catfish with a viewing of the holiday film “Love Hard”, which features a hilarious episode of online catfishing. The deep fried turkey was accompanied by plenty of other traditional holiday side dishes including collard greens, hush puppies, fried okra, and pimiento deviled eggs… just to name a few. And for dessert, we made a (BB) King Cake to connect his birthplace with the holiday treat. And for the nightcap, we made a Hotty Toddy (the iconic greeting and cheer of Ole Miss).
ACTIVITIES:
John Grisham’s “Skipping Christmas”
Donation to Mississippi Charity
Christmas Hairstyles in Honor of the "Phantom Barber"
Sam Levine’s “Dixieland Christmas” Album
FOOD:
Pimiento Cheese Deviled Eggs w/ Okra Garnish
Fried Okra
Pecan Tarts
Barq’s Root Beer (& Rum Cocktail)
INTERESTING READS & CONTEXT:
