Appalachian Comfort Food — Cornbread and Buttermilk

This tradition might sound a bit strange to folks who’ve never grown up with certain foods. I might live in Maine these days, but some things you never forget. One of the comfort foods we grew up with in western NC was a dish called cornbread and buttermilk. The other traditional NC dish is livermush. I covered livermush in another post before, so you’ll have to go there to read about it.

Cornbread and buttermilk is not usually eaten for breakfast, but it’s meant as a snack or something to tide you over after a long day at work until you get supper on the table. Sometimes you can have it as a late night nibble before you go to bed. !

Cornbread in a cup

Ask any Appalachian about it and you’ll see a distant spark in their eyes as many of us had this as kids. Ask some of the newer ones who moved to Appalachia from out of state and they’ll probably look at you like you just grew a second head on your shoulders, and they want to avoid you as much as possible.

I don’t know where this tradition started exactly or when, but I do know that you don’t eat it from a bowl. That’s a sure giveaway that “you ain’t from around here.” No, the cornbread is normally served after being crumbled in a glass and eaten with a spoon, sort of like oatmeal or cereal. You can see folks using “sweet milk” (which Southern for whole milk) to give the dish a slightly creamy flavor — or — if you’re a real southerner — you are going to go for the tangy taste of buttermilk. Cornbread and buttermilk is usually mixed in a glass just before you eat it. Now you’ll never see the Mom making a big bowl of it amd dishing it out to the family, even if everyone at the table is going to have some. No…. Pre mixed beforehand and it’ll get soggy and won’t be much good.

Cornbread and buttermilk

Everyone at the table who is going to have cornbread and buttermilk will break the bread up and crumble it into the glass dry and pour in some buttermilk themselves. And the best part ? You can eat this hot or cold depending on how you like it — and after you spoon out the cornbread chunks — you get to drink the cornmeal sludge from the bottom of the glass. If I had to explain it to you, you’d not understand it.

How do you know if someone is from the Appalachian mountains in western NC without them actually telling you ? Mention catfish and hush puppies, livermush, cornbread and buttermilk, fried okra or squash. See if their eyes light up….. then you’ll know.