List of foods of the Southern United States facts for kids

The Southern United States is famous for its delicious and unique foods! This list will introduce you to some of the most notable dishes and drinks you can find in this part of America. From sweet treats to savory meals, Southern cuisine has a rich history and many tasty traditions.

Drinks

Lemonade is a refreshing drink, especially on a hot day.

Sweet tea is a popular drink in the South.

The South is known for many refreshing drinks. Some of these are popular all over the United States, while others are special to the Southern states.

• Ale-8-One—a unique soft drink made in Winchester, Kentucky.
• Barq's Root Beer—first created in Biloxi, Mississippi.
• Big Red—a cream soda that started in Waco, Texas.
• Blenheim Ginger Ale—a spicy ginger ale.
• Buttermilk—a tangy milk drink, often used in cooking.
• Cheerwine—a cherry-flavored soda from North Carolina.
• Coca-Cola—the famous soda first made in Atlanta.
• Double Cola—a soda company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They also make Ski soda.
• Dr Pepper—a popular soda that was well-known in Texas before it became famous everywhere.
• Grapette—a grape soda first made in 1939 in Camden, Arkansas.
• Grapico—another grape soda, made by Buffalo Rock.
• Lemonade—a classic sweet and sour drink.
• Mello Yello—a lemon-lime soda from the Coca-Cola Company, mostly sold in the South.
• Mountain Dew—this citrus soda was first made in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• Muscadine juice—made from a type of grape found in the South.
• Nehi soda—comes in flavors like grape, peach, and orange.
• Orange juice—especially from Florida, known for its orange groves.
• Pepsi Cola—first made in New Bern, North Carolina.
• RC Cola—first made in Columbus, Georgia.
• Red Rock Cola—invented in Atlanta in 1885, even before Coca-Cola!
• Sassafras tea—a tea made from the sassafras tree.
• Slurpee—a frozen drink sold by 7-Eleven, which started in Dallas, Texas.
• Sun Drop—a citrus drink found in many Southern states.
• Sunny Delight (SunnyD)—invented in Mount Dora, Florida in 1964.
• Sugarcane juice—a sweet juice made from sugarcane.
• Sweet tea—usually served with ice, lemon, and sugar. Sometimes it has mint too.

Breads

Skillet cornbread is a Southern favorite.

Southern meals often include delicious breads, many made with cornmeal.

• Banana nut bread—a sweet bread made with bananas and nuts.
• Cuban bread—a type of bread popular in Florida.
• Biscuits—fluffy, soft breads, often made with buttermilk.
• Corn pone—also called hoecake or Johnny cake, a simple cornmeal bread.
• Cornbread—a staple made from cornmeal, milk, and sometimes eggs. It can be sweet or savory.
• Cracklin' cornbread—cornbread with crispy pork cracklins mixed in.
• Hush puppies—small, deep-fried balls of cornmeal batter.
• Gingerbread—a sweet bread spiced with ginger, sometimes called molasses bread in the South.
• Cornmeal mush—a thick porridge, also known as coush coush in the Deep South.
• Pumpkin bread—a sweet bread made with pumpkin.
• Spoonbread—a soft, pudding-like cornmeal dish.
• Yeast rolls—soft, risen bread rolls.
• Zucchini bread—a sweet bread made with shredded zucchini.

Desserts and Sweets

The South is famous for its amazing desserts, from rich cakes to sweet pies and candies.

Cakes

Lane cake is a classic Southern dessert.

Red velvet cake is known for its beautiful color and creamy frosting.

Southern cakes are often rich and flavorful, perfect for celebrations or a sweet treat.

• Baltimore peach cake—a cake with peaches.
• Butter pecan cake—a cake flavored with butter and pecans.
• Caramel cake—a moist cake topped with sweet caramel frosting.
• Coconut cake—a cake covered in coconut flakes.
• Doberge cake—a layered cake from New Orleans.
• Hummingbird cake—a sweet cake with bananas, pineapple, and pecans.
• Italian cream cake—a rich cake with coconut and pecans.
• Jelly cake—a cake with jelly filling between layers.
• King cake—a special cake eaten during Mardi Gras season.
• Kentucky jam cake—a spiced cake with fruit jam.
• Lady Baltimore cake—a fancy white cake with a fruit and nut filling.
• Lane cake—a classic Southern cake with a rich, boozy filling.
• Moravian sugar cake—a sweet, buttery cake from North Carolina.
• Peach shortcake—a dessert with peaches and a soft cake base.
• Pig pickin' cake—a fun cake made with mandarin oranges and a whipped topping.
• Pound cake—a dense, buttery cake.
• Red velvet cake—a beautiful red cake with cream cheese frosting.
• Stack cake—a tall cake with many thin layers, often filled with apple butter.
• Strawberry shortcake—a classic dessert with strawberries and a soft cake or biscuit.

Candies

Bourbon balls are a popular candy in Kentucky.

Southern candies often feature nuts like pecans and peanuts.

• Benne seed candy—like Benne Brittle, found in coastal Georgia and South Carolina.
• Bourbon balls—chocolate candies with a creamy, nutty center.
• Divinity—a fluffy, nougat-like candy, usually with pecans.
• Goo Goo Cluster—a candy bar with caramel, marshmallow, peanuts, and chocolate.
• Haystacks—no-bake candies made with butterscotch and crunchy noodles.
• Kentucky cream candy—a pulled candy made with cream, often in cooler weather.
• Modjeska—a marshmallow candy covered in caramel.
• Moon pie—a sweet snack with marshmallow filling between graham crackers, covered in chocolate.
• Peanut brittle—a hard candy with peanuts.
• Pecan brittle—similar to peanut brittle, but with pecans.
• Pralines—creamy, sweet candies with pecans, a specialty of New Orleans.

Cobblers

An apple cobbler, warm and delicious.

Cobblers are fruit desserts with a biscuit-like topping, baked until bubbly.

• Apple Brown Betty—a traditional baked apple dessert.
• Blackberry cobbler—made with sweet blackberries.
• Dewberry cobbler—made with dewberries, a type of berry similar to blackberries.
• Peach cobbler—a very popular Southern dessert with juicy peaches.
• Sweet potato sonker—a sweet potato cobbler, often found in North Carolina.

Cookies

Simple and delicious cookies are a favorite in the South.

• Butter pecan cookie—a cookie flavored with butter and pecans.
• Chocolate chip cookies—a classic favorite.
• Moravian spice cookies—thin, crispy, and spicy cookies, especially popular in North Carolina and Virginia.
• Oatmeal cookie—cookies made with oats.
• Peanut butter cookie—cookies with a rich peanut butter flavor.
• Tea cakes—simple, soft, and slightly sweet cookies.

Frozen Desserts

Bananas Foster is a famous dessert from New Orleans.

Cool treats are perfect for the Southern heat.

• Bananas Foster—a dessert made with bananas, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, often served with ice cream.
• Blackberry ice cream—ice cream flavored with blackberries.
• Creole cream cheese ice cream—a unique ice cream made with Creole cream cheese.
• Peach ice cream—a refreshing ice cream made with fresh peaches.
• Pecan-praline ice cream—ice cream with pieces of pecan pralines.
• Snow cone—shaved ice flavored with sweet syrup.
• Strawberry ice cream—ice cream flavored with strawberries.

Pies

Buttermilk pie has a creamy, tangy filling.

Millionaire pie is a rich and creamy dessert.

Pies are a big part of Southern dessert traditions, often featuring local fruits and nuts.

• Apple pie—a classic fruit pie.
• Black bottom pie—a pie with a chocolate crust and creamy layers.
• Blueberry pie—a sweet pie made with blueberries.
• Buttermilk pie—a creamy, tangy pie with a custard-like filling.
• Chess pie—a simple, sweet, and rich custard pie.
• Coconut chess pie—a chess pie with coconut.
• Blackberry pie—made from native blackberries.
• Grape hull pie—a unique pie made from scuppernong or muscadine grapes.
• Key lime pie—a tart and sweet pie from Florida.
• Lemon ice box pie—a creamy, no-bake lemon pie.
• Lemon Meringue Pie—a pie with a tart lemon filling and a fluffy meringue topping.
• Millionaire pie—a rich, creamy pie with fruit and nuts.
• Mississippi mud pie—a chocolatey, layered dessert pie.
• Peanut pie—a sweet pie with peanuts.
• Pecan pie—a very famous Southern pie made with pecans and a sweet, gooey filling.
• Shoofly pie—a molasses pie found in parts of the South where Pennsylvania Dutch people settled.
• Squash pie—a pie made with squash.
• Strawberry pie—a pie with fresh strawberries.
• Sweet potato pie—a creamy, spiced pie made with sweet potatoes.

Puddings

Bread pudding is a comforting dessert.

Puddings are soft, creamy desserts, often warm and comforting.

• Banana pudding—layers of vanilla wafers, bananas, and creamy pudding.
• Bread pudding—made from stale bread soaked in a sweet custard and baked.
• Chocolate pudding—a classic creamy chocolate dessert.
• Corn pudding—a savory or sweet dish made with corn and a custard base.
• Grits pudding—a pudding made with grits.
• Indian pudding—a cornmeal pudding.
• Lemon pudding—a light, lemony pudding.
• Persimmon pudding—a pudding made from persimmon fruit.
• Sweet potato pudding—a sweet, spiced pudding made with sweet potatoes.
• Trifle—a layered dessert with cake, fruit, and cream.

Pastries

Sweet baked goods are also popular in the South.

• Cream puff—a light pastry filled with cream.
• Hand pie—a small, portable pie, often filled with dried fruit and baked or fried.
• Fritters—fried dough often mixed with fruit like apple, peach, or sweet potato.

Meats, Poultry, and Seafood

Beef brisket is a popular barbecue meat, especially in Texas.

Fried chicken is a classic Southern dish.

Jambalaya is a flavorful rice dish.

Livermush is a traditional food in some parts of the South.

Southern cooking features a wide variety of meats, often prepared with special seasonings and cooking methods.

• Alligator meat—often served fried, especially in Florida and Louisiana.
• Barbecue—a huge part of Southern food culture, usually pork or beef, slow-cooked and seasoned.
  • Beef brisket—very popular in Texas barbecue.
  • Pork ribs—can be prepared "wet" (with sauce) or "dry" (with a spice rub).
  • Pulled pork—slow-cooked pork shoulder, shredded and often served in sandwiches. Popular in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
• Boudin—a spicy sausage from Cajun Louisiana, often made with rice.
• Chicken and dumplings—a comforting dish with chicken and soft dough dumplings.
• Chicken fried steak—a piece of steak coated like fried chicken and fried.
• Chicken gizzards—fried until crispy.
• Chitlins (chitterlings)—a traditional dish made from hog intestines.
• Crab cake—a patty made from crab meat, popular in Maryland and Louisiana.
• Crawfish—also called crawdads or crayfish, often boiled or used in stews.
• Fried chicken—chicken pieces coated in flour and spices, then pan-fried or deep-fried.
  • Hot chicken—a very spicy version of fried chicken from Nashville, Tennessee.
• Fried fish and seafood—fish like Catfish or Mullet are often battered in cornmeal and fried.
• Fried pork chops—pork chops cooked until golden and crispy.
• Fried turkey—a whole turkey deep-fried, often outdoors.
• Game meat—foods like venison (deer meat) and rabbit are common, especially in rural areas.
• Grits and grillades—a Louisiana dish with meat (grillades) served over grits.
• Ham—often pan-fried, roasted, or smoked. Varieties include "sugar-cured" or "country" ham.
• Ham hocks—smoked pork hocks, used to flavor dishes.
• Jambalaya—a flavorful rice dish with meat (like sausage or chicken) and seafood (like shrimp).
• Liver—often pan-fried pork or chicken liver.
• Livermush—a meat product made from pork liver, popular in North Carolina.
• Moravian chicken pie—a traditional chicken pie from North Carolina.
• Oyster stew—a creamy stew with oysters, often eaten on Christmas Eve.
• Quail—a small game bird.
• Reptiles and amphibians—like alligator and frog legs, eaten in some parts of the South.
• Salmon croquettes—patties made from salmon.
• Shrimp and grits—a popular dish with shrimp served over creamy grits.
• Shrimp Creole—shrimp cooked in a spicy tomato sauce.
• Smithfield ham—a famous cured ham from Smithfield, Virginia.
• Souse meat—also called head cheese, a jellied meat dish.
• Hot links—spicy sausages.

Side Dishes and Condiments

Chow-chow is a tangy relish.

Sausage gravy is often served over biscuits.

Side dishes and sauces are essential to Southern meals, adding flavor and comfort.

• Apple butter—a thick, spiced fruit spread made from apples.
• Barbecue sauce—many different kinds exist, often vinegar, tomato, or mustard-based.
• Barbecue spaghetti—spaghetti mixed with barbecue sauce and sometimes meat.
• Cane syrup—a sweet syrup made from sugarcane.
• Cayenne peppers—used to add heat to dishes.
• Chow-chow—a tangy, pickled relish made from various vegetables.
• Cole slaw—shredded cabbage salad, usually with mayonnaise, but sometimes vinegar-based.
• Cornbread dressing—similar to stuffing, but made with cornbread.
• Cracklin'—crispy fried pork rinds.
• Deviled eggs—hard-boiled eggs with a creamy, seasoned yolk filling.
• Goober peas—a term for peanuts, sometimes roasted.
• Gravy—a thick sauce served over meats, potatoes, biscuits, and rice.
  • Chocolate gravy—a sweet gravy made with cocoa, served over biscuits.
  • Red-eye gravy—made with coffee and meat drippings, often served with ham.
  • Sausage gravy—a creamy, milk-based gravy with sausage, served over biscuits.
  • Tomato gravy—a gravy made with tomatoes, often served over rice.
• Grits—a porridge made from ground corn, a Southern staple.
  • Cheese grits—grits with cheese mixed in.
  • Fried grits—grits that have been chilled, sliced, and fried.
• Hot sauce—used to add spice.
  • Tabasco sauce—a famous hot sauce made in Louisiana.
  • Texas Pete—a hot sauce made in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Macaroni and cheese is a popular side dish.

• Macaroni and cheese—often baked in a casserole with fresh eggs.
• Mayhaw jelly—a sweet jelly made from mayhaw berries.
• Muscadine jelly—jelly made from muscadine grapes.
• Old Bay Seasoning—a seafood seasoning famous in Maryland.
• Peanut butter—a creamy spread made from peanuts.
• Pepper jelly—a sweet and spicy jelly.
• Pickle relish—often used in potato salad.
• Pickled or brandied peaches—peaches preserved in a sweet, tangy liquid.
• Rice—a common side dish.
  • Red rice—rice cooked with tomatoes and sometimes sausage.
• Sorghum molasses—a sweet syrup made from sorghum.
• Watermelon rind pickles—pickled watermelon rinds.

Soups, Stews, and Boils

Brunswick stew is a hearty, flavorful stew.

Southern soups and stews are often hearty and full of flavor, perfect for a comforting meal.

• Brunswick stew—a thick, savory stew with various meats and vegetables.
• Burgoo—a thick stew similar to Brunswick stew, popular in Kentucky.
• Étouffée—a very thick stew, often made with crawfish or chicken, served over rice.
• Gumbo—a famous stew from Louisiana, made with seafood or meat and okra, served over rice.
• Hoppin' John—a traditional dish of black-eyed peas and rice, often eaten on New Year's Day for good luck.
• Low-country boil—a seafood boil popular in coastal South Carolina.
  • Frogmore stew—a type of low-country boil with sausage, corn, crabs, and shrimp.
• Peanut soup—a creamy soup made with peanuts, a historical dish in Virginia.
• Pilau—dishes where rice is stewed with meat and vegetables, like chicken bog.
• She-crab soup—a rich, creamy soup made with crab meat and crab roe, popular in Charleston, South Carolina.
• Tomato soup—stewed tomatoes, okra, and corn.
• Turtle soup—a Creole dish from Louisiana.

Vegetables and Salads

Ambrosia salad is a sweet fruit salad.

Collard greens (left), macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, yams, and cornbread are often served together.

Vegetables are a big part of Southern cooking, often cooked with savory seasonings.

• Ambrosia—a sweet fruit salad with coconut and marshmallows.
• Beans—often cooked with ham, bacon grease, or onions.
  • Baked beans—sweet and savory beans.
  • Butter or lima beans—creamy beans.
  • Green beans—often cooked until tender.
  • Pinto beans and cornbread—a classic combination.
• Greens—leafy vegetables seasoned with meat or meat drippings. The liquid left after cooking is called pot liquor.
  • Collard greens—a very popular Southern green.
  • Kale—another leafy green.
  • Mustard greens—greens with a slightly spicy flavor.
  • Turnip greens—greens from turnip plants.
• Carrots—often "candied" with butter and brown sugar.
  • Carrot raisin salad—a sweet and crunchy salad.
• Congealed salad—a salad made with gelatin.
• Corn—a versatile vegetable.
  • Corn fritters—fried corn patties.
  • Corn on the cob—boiled, steamed, or grilled, served with butter.
  • Creamed corn—corn in a creamy sauce.
• Hoppin' John—a dish of black-eyed peas served with rice.

Mashed potatoes are a comforting side dish.

• Mashed potatoes—creamy mashed potatoes.
• Okra—often flour-battered and pan-fried, or used in stews.
• Onion—sliced Vidalia onions (a sweet onion), green onions, or onion rings.
• Peas—often cooked with ham or onions.
  • Black-eyed peas—a very common pea in Southern cooking.
  • Crowder peas—another type of pea.
  • Field peas—various types of peas grown in fields.
  • Purple hull peas—peas with purple hulls.
• Potato salad—usually made with egg, mayonnaise, mustard, and pickle relish.
• Ramp—wild leeks popular in the Appalachian mountains.

Red beans and rice is a flavorful and hearty meal.

• Red beans and rice—slow-cooked, spicy kidney beans served over white rice, often with sausage.
• Seven-layer salad—a layered salad with different vegetables and dressings.
• Succotash—a mix of corn and lima beans.
• Summer squash—often fried or baked in casseroles.
• Swamp cabbage—the heart of palm, eaten in Florida.
• Tomatoes—sliced ripe tomatoes, also eaten at breakfast.
  • Fried green tomatoes—unripe green tomatoes sliced, breaded, and fried.
• Sweet potatoes—often "candied" with butter and brown sugar.
• Tomato aspic—a savory gelatin dish made with tomatoes.
• Vidalia onion—a sweet onion grown only in Georgia.
• Wilted lettuce—lettuce dressed with a warm dressing, an Appalachian specialty.

Other Southern Foods

A muffuletta sandwich from New Orleans.

A shrimp po' boy sandwich.

Here are some other unique and popular foods found in the Southern United States.

• Beer cheese—a cheese spread flavored with beer.
• Boiled peanuts—peanuts boiled in salty water until soft.
• Chicken salad—shredded chicken mixed with mayonnaise and other ingredients.
• Creole cream cheese—a soft, tangy cheese from Louisiana.
• Fatback or hog jowl—fatty cuts of pork used for flavor.
• Frito pie—corn chips topped with chili, cheese, and other toppings.
• Hoop cheese—a firm, mild cheese.
• Muffuletta sandwich—a large, round sandwich from New Orleans with layers of meats, cheeses, and olive salad.
• Peanut butter and banana sandwich—a simple, classic sandwich.
• Peanuts and Coke—a unique snack where peanuts are dropped into a bottle of Coca-Cola.
• Pickled pigs feet—pig's feet preserved in a tangy brine.
• Pimento cheese—a creamy cheese spread made with cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and pimentos.
• Po' boy sandwich—a traditional Louisiana sandwich served on French bread, often filled with fried seafood or roast beef.
• Vienna sausages—small, canned sausages.

See also

• List of soul foods and dishes
• Louisiana Creole cuisine