HUNGRY GERALD

A young (never out of Noo Yawk) HG visited Atlanta in 1947. Went to a downtown Chinese restaurant. Before the shrimp chop suey arrived,  the pretty Southern drawling waitress (didn’t call them waitpersons in those backward days) presented HG with a big basket of Wonder bread and margarine. Uh,oh. Even then, HG was a Chinatown veteran. He knew a bad omen when he saw one. The chop suey. Eek! Horrors!  Atlanta was a small town then, not the cosmopolitan corporate and transportation hub it has become. But, HG managed to find some good food in that provincial town. Brunswick stew was a staple in the modest diners HG frequented and it soon became a passion. HG hasn’t tasted Brunswick stew in years. The dish doesn’t travel. Strictly regional. If memory serves, it was a stew of chicken, salt pork, giblets, corn, potatoes, onions, lima beans and tomatoes.  Real spicy and real good.  Made hotter through judicious use of the Louisiana hot sauce on the counter. Cafeterias in Atlanta served some hearty platters featuring pork, meat loaf and chicken.  Three “sides” came with the protein.  The diner could assemble a trio from mashed potatoes (Idahos or yams); rice;  mac-and-cheese; creamed spinach; cabbage; collard greens; carrots-and-peas; lima beans; string beans; okra and lots, lots more. Rib sticking might be a good description. There was a place near Georgia Tech–the Varsity–which served great hot dogs.   HG’s faves were the chili dog and the chili cheese dog.  Onion rings were super. The drink was Coke, of course.  The owner was opposed to smoking  (slightly ahead of his time) and he decorated the joint with gory photos of diseased lungs.  Didn’t discourage HG from devouring the elaborate tube steaks and enjoying some after-lunch Marlboros.  Might have been a good idea if HG had paid less attention to the mustard, relish and fried pies and more to those cautionary photos.   Even though The Varsity Hot Dog Czar didn’t exactly specialize in veggies and wheat germ  he sure cared about the health of his customers. That’s more than you can say about Arby’s and other purveyors of highway crapola.