Tony, when you get tired of GooGoo Clusters and Sweetened Iced Tea, come on over to San Diego and try OUR regional specialties -- Fish Tacos and Giant Margaritas. Ole'!

Tony: <BR>I thought of something else...no one's mentioned Catfish.....another Southern Favorite. Really juicy and tender fish with lots of flavor.

Bob, they also find fun things to do with the real cow pies in Wisconsin too. Not far from Madison, there is a cow chip (i.e., dried cow pie) throwing contest. Of course, we are more sophisticated here in NC with our world-famous hollerin' contest. <BR> <BR>Emily, those fish tacos sound good. And of course, the giant margaritas. I haven't decided about Frito pie yet.

Maybe you'll want to try fried rattlesnake. I hear it tastes like chicken, but I am too chicken to ty it.

Try explaining a soft shell crab to your guests from Ireland! And, can anything be sweeter than a snow cone? Shaved ice with fruit flavored syrup on it, topped with marshmallow creme for another bit of money - loved it as a child, can't stomach now. Tony is in for such culinary delights. We should send him a supply of Pepto-Bismol before he lands.

I second that motion, however, Tony, would you rather carry Tums or Mylanta tabs in your pocket?

I remember watching tv in Arizona last year and in particular a commercial about some pills you pop to stop you needing to go to the 'can'. It was some bloke at a ball game who kept missing the innings or whatever you call them until his mate gave him some of these pills. Anyone know what they are called? I could have done with them driving from LA to Vegas, haha.

As I recall, it was a commercial for "Immodium-AD" or "Immodium Plus".

The "southern food" you've been warned about is the traditional comfort food of the inland South; it is farmhand food, and the calorie content is designed to get you through a 10-hr day of heavy work in the sun. Nowadays, most folks have toned it down and stopped frying everything, seeing as how many of us now work indoors in air-conditioned comfort, lifting nothing much heavier than a mouse. <BR> <BR>The coastal South tends more toward seafood, though often fried, and South <BR>Louisiana (that is, south of Alexandria) <BR>has a unique food culture altogether. <BR>Try Louisiana's Zapps Crawtators potato <BR>chips (crisps) if you want a unique junk food experience, YUM! <BR> <BR>NEVER eat instant grits! Like eating <BR>pure sand. Slow-cooked stone-ground <BR>grits are heavenly when done properly; especially served with garlic-sauteed shrimp. The best I've ever had came <BR>from South Carolina. <BR> <BR>The biggest regional 'thing' in the US <BR>is the name we use for carbonated soft drinks. I grew up near New Orleans, <BR>where "coke" is a generic term for a <BR>soft drink, the waitress might then ask <BR>you what kind of coke you wanted (7-up, <BR>Dr. Pepper, etc. were all possible answers!) Some parts of the country <BR>prefer the term 'pop' for soft drinks.In the midwest they say 'soda', but in most of the South that will get you the sort of soda you might mix with Scotch whisky, that is, club soda. Most Southerners prefer bourbon for whiskey, and the good stuff is known as "sipping whiskey", you can drink it neat. The cheap stuff is best mixed with a coke! <BR>

Mix something with Scotch Whisky?? <BR>I will let Tony speak for himself on that issue. But until corrected, I think that no real son of Scotland would deign to consume such a concoction. <BR>Adulterate good Scotch?!?!?! <BR>Egads. Global warming is bad enough. <BR>

Drat that unfortunate phrasing! I really <BR>did not mean HE might mix it; just that <BR>someone might. (I wasn't sure that the <BR>term "club soda" would be universal.) <BR>I don't drink it any other way than neat, myself.

Geez, Tony. Your Imodium question made me think of another problem you might encounter....don't inquire about the location of the loo.....in the South, It's most lassie's name (BettyLou, BobbieLou, BillieLou...) :.)

Just to comment on some of what Ryn said. Coke is a generic term in North Carolina too. In Wisconsin they said "Pop." They also called a water fountain "a bubbler." Took me a while to understand that one, but I guess it makes more since than referring to all softdrinks as "Coke."