I grew up in a farming environment thus my early and lasting experience of consuming ‘country’ food was formed at an early age. Of course everyone has to ‘acquire’ a taste for most foods mostly before entering the first grade. But as age arrives, most people ‘learn’ to broaden their palate to include items typically consumed by their peers such as seafood for example. I grew up knowing just one aquatic offering, fresh fish from the Pee Dee River which assuredly did not include such as shrimp, lobster, crab, oysters and other, to me, alien offerings. My taste for seafood has never changed from what I learned as a child, unfortunately. But this column is about a more familiar food coming from the earth rather than its waters. Collards!
I subscribe to a regional magazine that covers a variety of topics such as among others, tourist attractions, history, biographical sketches, and personalities and in the latest issue: food. The editors included a map of the state and indicated by a corresponding number where the article took place. One story which caught my attention was associated with a nearby out of state small town and one of its preferred food servings. Since I was able to have a choice, I have included on my diet its favorite vegetable, collards along with corn bread, fat back, chow chow and any other compatible, complementary side orders available. This serving comes in a ‘package’ and is incomplete without all the ingredients plus how they are prepared, that is seasoned.
I had driven by this small drive in restaurant and has seen the handmade ‘collard sandwich’ sign many times but it did not intrigue me until I read the magazine piece about their specialty and since I enjoy collards as a vegetable, I decided to investigate.
The structure is unimpressive, there is no inside dining and patrons order take outs or may be seated on the outdoor, sheltered picnic benches opposite the sliding window where you place your order. The menus are posted on a wall outside, handwritten on colored note paper, four in fact: chicken, breakfast, sandwiches and hamburgers including details and prices. Oddly enough, the collard sandwich was not listed or I missed it although according to the owner/attendant, it and catfish nuggets were the most popular take out items. The order was placed for one collard sandwich, divided, since we were hedging our bets on its consumption quality.
The attendant, evidently proud of his menu creation, one very popular in this part of the state, wanted to show how the sandwich was constructed. It was placed in a Styrofoam container generously filled.
The sandwich’s outer coverings consisted of two generous, fried cornbread fritters I suppose you might call them, filled with seasoned, slightly greasy, moderately chopped, warmed collard greens and topped with several pieces of fat back along with a container of chow chow. The portions were more like a meal than a sandwich and reasonable priced by the way.
The sandwich was not something you would want to eat from the front seat of the car, so we sat at one of the picnic tables in the 46 degree windy weather, enjoying our best and FIRST ever collard sandwich.
And, yes, I would try it again but maybe as a takeout order to be enjoyed in a more formal setting.
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Bill Lee
PO Box 128
Hamer, SC 29547
